"Can human folly harbour a more arrogant or ungrateful thought than the notion that whereas God makes man beautiful in body, man makes himself pure in heart?"
Augustine.
It's almost here once again - that moment when people rush into the mode of thinking in which they resolve all will be improved in the next 12 months if they fervently keep to their decision to (insert your resolution here).
I don't make such promises.
Ambrose Pierce defined heathenism as the notion that we benighted creatures worship what we see and feel - but the problem is what that veneration denies us from seeing about the violence we thereby do to ourselves.
We can rise or fall, get by or make it, but there are two irrevocable truths that tether us however we choose to twist and turn.
The first power is the violence we all carry. Paul outlines this so well in respect to the 'norms' of human life in his letter to the Romans (chapters 1-3) and in respect to the Christian in Romans 7. We never have the natural resources to change this, because this is the cancer that now defines human nature, and it leads directly to our second manacle - death. Whatever we busy ourselves with now, this tyranny is close to us, and there is, again, no way in which we can escape our inevitable final moment.
We live in the shadow of this twin volcano, but we cannot often bear to look upon the truth of its hold, because when we do, we see all that we are melt before its hold and rule - there is no strength in us against this.
Christ alone can end our delusion that the powers arrayed against us from within and outside will not erupt. He alone can extinguish the power of these evils by drawing their sting into His own death and resurrection and ending their strength in His triumph for us.
In Christ, both sin and death are trumped by a far greater power - of unceasing, unrelenting love, that will have us overwhelmed by an exquisite mercy that heals and will finally make us whole, come the day of resurrection.
In Christ, life now becomes more than a pretence or a struggle with our futile realities - we can begin to see and live anew.
The options are there.
We continue, as we have always done, stumbling around until sin and death overwhelm and drown us out, or we trust in the one who gives Himself as our remedy, and begin to discover a life that far exceeds our troubles.
That is the possibility this New Year.
Saturday 28 December 2019
Sunday 22 December 2019
Renew!
"The Sceptre (of royal authority) shall not depart from Judah,
Nor the lawgiver (the ruler's staff) from between his feet,
Until Shiloh comes,
And to Him shall the gathering, the tribute and obedience of the people be". Genesis 49:10.
A couple of things have really struck me this Christmas.
The first is that Gabriel comforted Mary's distress at his visit by speaking about the Lord's promise to establish a reign over the house of Jacob that will never cease (Luke 1:33), hence the promise above, and that God prepares the way for this in bringing about the same manner of miracle He had used to bring about the very birth of that house thousands of years before.
Mary is overshadowed by God to bring Shiloh to the world, but notice what accompanies this - a relative who was incapable of child bearing is made fruitful and will give birth to a boy who will bear witness to Mary's son (Luke 1:12-18). The man who receives word of this particular miracle is literally dumbfounded, because, like us, he cannot wrap his thinking around what is taking place.
All of this reverberates with the events that occurred in the life of Abraham and Sarah - how God used an identical barrenness to bring life from death and raise up a family that would become the forbears of offspring as many as the stars in the sky.
We tend to look at this time of year just like the man who was made mute whilst going about his regular duties - just another week to get through, but in history, in prophecy, in the most real of human experience, we find something extraordinary unfolding...
and what about in us?
Can we allow something this astonishing to break into our darkness, our chaos, our futility?
Find somewhere this week that can help you see a little more of this wonder.
Happy Christmas!
Nor the lawgiver (the ruler's staff) from between his feet,
Until Shiloh comes,
And to Him shall the gathering, the tribute and obedience of the people be". Genesis 49:10.
A couple of things have really struck me this Christmas.
The first is that Gabriel comforted Mary's distress at his visit by speaking about the Lord's promise to establish a reign over the house of Jacob that will never cease (Luke 1:33), hence the promise above, and that God prepares the way for this in bringing about the same manner of miracle He had used to bring about the very birth of that house thousands of years before.
Mary is overshadowed by God to bring Shiloh to the world, but notice what accompanies this - a relative who was incapable of child bearing is made fruitful and will give birth to a boy who will bear witness to Mary's son (Luke 1:12-18). The man who receives word of this particular miracle is literally dumbfounded, because, like us, he cannot wrap his thinking around what is taking place.
All of this reverberates with the events that occurred in the life of Abraham and Sarah - how God used an identical barrenness to bring life from death and raise up a family that would become the forbears of offspring as many as the stars in the sky.
We tend to look at this time of year just like the man who was made mute whilst going about his regular duties - just another week to get through, but in history, in prophecy, in the most real of human experience, we find something extraordinary unfolding...
and what about in us?
Can we allow something this astonishing to break into our darkness, our chaos, our futility?
Find somewhere this week that can help you see a little more of this wonder.
Happy Christmas!
Sunday 15 December 2019
Taken for granted?
A people without knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots".
Marcus Garvey.
"Where there is no vision, the people perish".
Proverbs 29:18
One of the things I'm looking forward to this winter is sitting down and watching The Man in the High Castle. The story picks up a popular idea often employed in fiction - what if something crucial had happened differently. In the case of this story, writer Phillip K Dick asks what if the allies had lost the second world war. The picture provided of America in fascist hands is awful, but what is really fascinating is what generates hope amongst the resistance, where they have evidence of an alternative reality in which these relentless enemies were vanquished, and life and liberty were secured and enjoyed across the free world.
My first encounter with the shock and possibilities of these ideas came in seeing a legendary Star Trek episode in the original series (By the way, if you enjoyed this Trek story, the STC team created a superb follow up episode that is essential viewing).
Fiction serves us best when it allows us to consider our own stories - the why of things in our current world, and that's essential.
As I noted recently, Tom Holland's latest work,Dominion has shown that the reason we live in such a caring and tolerant society in the West is because Christianity has saturated so much of what we take for granted that the very way we think and often feel about so much is because of the impact that this message has had and continues to have upon our world.
The problem, it turns out, is not the truth of that fact, but the present attitude of denial towards it.
The verse above from Proverbs is an interesting one. The word "perish" derives from a Hebrew word which means 'to loosen' (as in a woman untying her hair) - to create an environment where things are left unconstrained. It's when we leave ourselves in such a realm, as Marcus Garvey notes, that we truly can become lost... and perish.
The reason why we think it best to sideline thoughts about Christianity is that we (our culture) have been undergoing a process of seeking to untie ourselves from it for a lengthy period of time. Since the 18th century, there have been numerous attempts to 'enlighten' us away from the "tyranny" of religion, but they all share a common trait - the anti-theism that they have all sought to establish as an alternative is marked by evil. Look at the blood shed in the French Revolution, The Russian Revolution and under Stalinism, the holocaust in China under Mao, the extermination of the national socialists in Germany or the Killing Fields in Cambodia.
When we seek to adhere to a lie concerning our nature and thereby our ability to determine what is right, we enslave ourselves to a far more terrible and frightening tyranny than what has bountifully enriched our world because of the hope found in the Person and actions of Jesus Christ.
What is true politically or ideologically, is also true socially and individually. The West has undergone so many deaths and the impoverishment of so many because it sought to marginalise the Christian message about our value as those made in God's image.
When a culture seeks to empty itself of what is good, we become tethered to what is worst about us.
In this season of hope, of good will, of heavenly intrusion, let us reflect on this, and return to the place where Christ is given for the sake of our broken world. God gave Him to rescue us from this very misery so we would not perish. That is the joy of this season.
Marcus Garvey.
"Where there is no vision, the people perish".
Proverbs 29:18
One of the things I'm looking forward to this winter is sitting down and watching The Man in the High Castle. The story picks up a popular idea often employed in fiction - what if something crucial had happened differently. In the case of this story, writer Phillip K Dick asks what if the allies had lost the second world war. The picture provided of America in fascist hands is awful, but what is really fascinating is what generates hope amongst the resistance, where they have evidence of an alternative reality in which these relentless enemies were vanquished, and life and liberty were secured and enjoyed across the free world.
My first encounter with the shock and possibilities of these ideas came in seeing a legendary Star Trek episode in the original series (By the way, if you enjoyed this Trek story, the STC team created a superb follow up episode that is essential viewing).
Fiction serves us best when it allows us to consider our own stories - the why of things in our current world, and that's essential.
As I noted recently, Tom Holland's latest work,
The problem, it turns out, is not the truth of that fact, but the present attitude of denial towards it.
The verse above from Proverbs is an interesting one. The word "perish" derives from a Hebrew word which means 'to loosen' (as in a woman untying her hair) - to create an environment where things are left unconstrained. It's when we leave ourselves in such a realm, as Marcus Garvey notes, that we truly can become lost... and perish.
The reason why we think it best to sideline thoughts about Christianity is that we (our culture) have been undergoing a process of seeking to untie ourselves from it for a lengthy period of time. Since the 18th century, there have been numerous attempts to 'enlighten' us away from the "tyranny" of religion, but they all share a common trait - the anti-theism that they have all sought to establish as an alternative is marked by evil. Look at the blood shed in the French Revolution, The Russian Revolution and under Stalinism, the holocaust in China under Mao, the extermination of the national socialists in Germany or the Killing Fields in Cambodia.
When we seek to adhere to a lie concerning our nature and thereby our ability to determine what is right, we enslave ourselves to a far more terrible and frightening tyranny than what has bountifully enriched our world because of the hope found in the Person and actions of Jesus Christ.
What is true politically or ideologically, is also true socially and individually. The West has undergone so many deaths and the impoverishment of so many because it sought to marginalise the Christian message about our value as those made in God's image.
When a culture seeks to empty itself of what is good, we become tethered to what is worst about us.
In this season of hope, of good will, of heavenly intrusion, let us reflect on this, and return to the place where Christ is given for the sake of our broken world. God gave Him to rescue us from this very misery so we would not perish. That is the joy of this season.
Saturday 7 December 2019
Its all bad
"True nobility is being superior to your former self". Ernest Hemingway.
"God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay,
For Jesus Christ, our Saviour, was born on Christmas Day,
To save a soul from Satan's power, when we were gone astray,
Oh tidings of Comfort and Joy, Comfort and Joy,
Oh tidings of comfort and joy!"
This week I received a message from the World Transformation Movement. Started by Biologist Jeremy Griffiths several decades ago, it sees the real trouble we have as human beings is the inner conflict we carry between instinct and intellect, caused around 200 million years ago when we developed larger brains.
The solution is therefore pretty straightforward - we simply have to accept what kind of creatures we are, keep our darker instincts in check by applying our intellect well and live decent, happy lives until we... die.
That's all folks.
It all sounds fine, if you think the only thing going on here is some accidental biology caused by some accidental chemistry caused by a cosmological hiccup.
Humanity is just the result of its natural circumstances, so let's get over it and move on, right?
It all sounds pretty reasonable if you don't look too closely at the fine print, because once you do, you find that it's not instinct that's the problem any more - it's intellect using that annoying thing often called reason that makes the alarm bells start ringing real loud.
I saw a great example of this yesterday. In a debate with A C Grayling, historian Tom Holland showed how slavery was finally deemed evil not by the likes of Plato or Aristotle, but by Christianity, which looked at the whole matter through both faith and reason and thereby was convinced of its atrocious nature.
That's just the tip of the ice berg. Earlier this week, I watched another fascinating discussion with the brilliant Dr David Berlinski, who has just written a book on the vast subject of human nature (my light reading for Christmas!). He shows that seeking to give a merely biological (evolutionary) answer to the enigma of who and what we are is way too simplistic, and touches on how the Judaeo/Christian perspective on our natures being fallen has a great deal to say.
That's the nub of it.
If we cannot explain away our troubles, what do we do with them? We can seek to bury them, evade them, pretend they're not that relevant, but they don't vanish if we do.
Christmas, we're often reminded, is about light piercing the darkness, but it's done in the most shocking way - God amongst us, as one of us, nursing at a mother's breast, growing into a man who would allow Himself to be brutally executed... for our condition.
If you unwrap one thought this festive season that's spiritual in nature, consider that man - does it surprise or shock you, causing you to reflect on your need for that kind of help?
That's exactly why the gospel, after some 2,000 years, continues to be really good news. The answer to our wickedness, our broken condition, our deaths, lies beyond - outside - of us, and like the best gift ever given, is waiting for us to receive its splendour.
That's the transformation of the season!
"God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay,
For Jesus Christ, our Saviour, was born on Christmas Day,
To save a soul from Satan's power, when we were gone astray,
Oh tidings of Comfort and Joy, Comfort and Joy,
Oh tidings of comfort and joy!"
This week I received a message from the World Transformation Movement. Started by Biologist Jeremy Griffiths several decades ago, it sees the real trouble we have as human beings is the inner conflict we carry between instinct and intellect, caused around 200 million years ago when we developed larger brains.
The solution is therefore pretty straightforward - we simply have to accept what kind of creatures we are, keep our darker instincts in check by applying our intellect well and live decent, happy lives until we... die.
That's all folks.
It all sounds fine, if you think the only thing going on here is some accidental biology caused by some accidental chemistry caused by a cosmological hiccup.
Humanity is just the result of its natural circumstances, so let's get over it and move on, right?
It all sounds pretty reasonable if you don't look too closely at the fine print, because once you do, you find that it's not instinct that's the problem any more - it's intellect using that annoying thing often called reason that makes the alarm bells start ringing real loud.
I saw a great example of this yesterday. In a debate with A C Grayling, historian Tom Holland showed how slavery was finally deemed evil not by the likes of Plato or Aristotle, but by Christianity, which looked at the whole matter through both faith and reason and thereby was convinced of its atrocious nature.
That's just the tip of the ice berg. Earlier this week, I watched another fascinating discussion with the brilliant Dr David Berlinski, who has just written a book on the vast subject of human nature (my light reading for Christmas!). He shows that seeking to give a merely biological (evolutionary) answer to the enigma of who and what we are is way too simplistic, and touches on how the Judaeo/Christian perspective on our natures being fallen has a great deal to say.
That's the nub of it.
If we cannot explain away our troubles, what do we do with them? We can seek to bury them, evade them, pretend they're not that relevant, but they don't vanish if we do.
Christmas, we're often reminded, is about light piercing the darkness, but it's done in the most shocking way - God amongst us, as one of us, nursing at a mother's breast, growing into a man who would allow Himself to be brutally executed... for our condition.
If you unwrap one thought this festive season that's spiritual in nature, consider that man - does it surprise or shock you, causing you to reflect on your need for that kind of help?
That's exactly why the gospel, after some 2,000 years, continues to be really good news. The answer to our wickedness, our broken condition, our deaths, lies beyond - outside - of us, and like the best gift ever given, is waiting for us to receive its splendour.
That's the transformation of the season!
Friday 29 November 2019
Then and Now
Two festive thoughts this week.
The first, in relation to the American holiday of thanksgiving, comes from a superb novel I'm currently reading by Uni Mc Cormack.
"Antok was yawning and doodling through yet another committee meeting, when her mind soon wandered back to the previous evening with her family. Her sketches were of candles, she realised, and she felt warmth - happiness - suffuse her whole body.
The coziness of their home and the beauty of the little ceremony and sharing the sweet cakes...
how blessed she was and how grateful.
How different life was these days. How much it promised for her children".
The story continues with a reflection on how things had been so much worse such a short time before, so thankfulness seemed so right, even though she lived in the midst of a culture that was predominantly secular (Enigma Tales).
Certainly something to mull over as we celebrate or give thanks over the next month.
What are we grateful for, and to whom?
Certainly, there's those who have loved us, but is that love itself not an expression or reflection of something greater?
Which brings me to my second offering, from The Chosen, their pilot episode entitled The Shepherd.
Enjoy as this magical time of year begins.
The first, in relation to the American holiday of thanksgiving, comes from a superb novel I'm currently reading by Uni Mc Cormack.
"Antok was yawning and doodling through yet another committee meeting, when her mind soon wandered back to the previous evening with her family. Her sketches were of candles, she realised, and she felt warmth - happiness - suffuse her whole body.
The coziness of their home and the beauty of the little ceremony and sharing the sweet cakes...
how blessed she was and how grateful.
How different life was these days. How much it promised for her children".
The story continues with a reflection on how things had been so much worse such a short time before, so thankfulness seemed so right, even though she lived in the midst of a culture that was predominantly secular (Enigma Tales).
Certainly something to mull over as we celebrate or give thanks over the next month.
What are we grateful for, and to whom?
Certainly, there's those who have loved us, but is that love itself not an expression or reflection of something greater?
Which brings me to my second offering, from The Chosen, their pilot episode entitled The Shepherd.
Enjoy as this magical time of year begins.
Saturday 23 November 2019
"Echo"
So, this week, I have one place to point you, and three particular pieces that have something to say (actually, I have a few, but let's start with a favourite).
The place is the Mockingbird website, which is a constant source of joy, reflection and inspiration these days.
First up is a brilliantly astute piece on Dolly Parton (yes, the country singer known for her voice, songs and physique). This is a superb little insight into faith and celebrity by Sarah Condon that speaks to each of us.
Yesterday was the day that C S Lewis died. Every year, however, it seems that the legacy of this brilliant and insightful writer grows in popularity, and once you discover his works, it's not hard to see why. This article does a great job at whetting the appetite.
Finally, a superbly witty piece borrowed from the Onion, on a syndrome that is so often played out. It makes you think about how easily we can fall, and keep on falling.
Two other contributions.
First, if you're tired of all those British Christmas ads already, here's something of a remedy that puts us back on track for doing the festive season justice.
And finally, if you really want to get your teeth into the meat and marrow behind the Christian message, can I point you this brilliant apologetics site. You can also find loads of free and brilliant videos on their you tube page, so dive in.
Lots to unwrap there!
The place is the Mockingbird website, which is a constant source of joy, reflection and inspiration these days.
First up is a brilliantly astute piece on Dolly Parton (yes, the country singer known for her voice, songs and physique). This is a superb little insight into faith and celebrity by Sarah Condon that speaks to each of us.
Yesterday was the day that C S Lewis died. Every year, however, it seems that the legacy of this brilliant and insightful writer grows in popularity, and once you discover his works, it's not hard to see why. This article does a great job at whetting the appetite.
Finally, a superbly witty piece borrowed from the Onion, on a syndrome that is so often played out. It makes you think about how easily we can fall, and keep on falling.
Two other contributions.
First, if you're tired of all those British Christmas ads already, here's something of a remedy that puts us back on track for doing the festive season justice.
And finally, if you really want to get your teeth into the meat and marrow behind the Christian message, can I point you this brilliant apologetics site. You can also find loads of free and brilliant videos on their you tube page, so dive in.
Lots to unwrap there!
Sunday 17 November 2019
Reaching back to get beyond?
"For from the days of Joshua, the people had not done so".
Nehemiah 8:17.
What happens when a supposedly immovable object is exposed to an unstoppable force?
Well, according to the movie Twister, one of them has to give, but this scene shows just how human stubbornness can often prove to be a power which would drive us into harms way when we should be seeking to step back.
Back in the 13th century, the West, and particularly the Roman church, decided that the best way to break the tornado of change it was facing was by launching a new enterprise, termed Christendom (the kingdom of God on earth), and the instrument the papacy decided it was going to use for this new age was a device termed 'reformo' - yes, what you and I would term Reformation.
Nehemiah saw just how hard it was to really reform people in respect to what they really felt and wanted.
After years of wall and temple building, renewal of rites and ceremonies that hadn't seen the light of day since Joshua's time, he returned from a trip near the end of his life to find that the people had de-faulted back to their laxity and compromise (Nehemiah 13), causing him to become enraged and violent. History shows us that his outburst didn't stop the rot, and the people finally ended up displaced because of their unbelief and negligence (the root problem all along), Clearly, something better than just rules that couldn't be kept was required in that case, but what if you're dealing with a ruling power that is growing in its control over, well, everyone and everything? What if you have an 'office' that supposedly holds sway over men in respects to both mercy and justice?
What happens when such a power comes out of its corner into the ring, riled up for a fight?
The 13th century tells us.
The program commenced with an edict to see 'heretics' killed, and this was eagerly done during a very bloody crusade in Southern France (crusading, please note, isn't just seen or used by Rome as a means of fighting heathens, but of purifying the church). A few decades later, the next phase of purification commenced when a permanent religious office (still in existence today) of inquisition was established for capturing, interrogating (torturing), trying and burning those deemed impure. Over the next two centuries in the realm of Spain alone, this blight would result in some 114,000 victims, over 10,000 of whom would be burned for heresy, whilst in Rome, the papacy ruled itself to be above all earthly authorities.
Perhaps we shouldn't be that surprised, then, that in one of the early 'victories' of the crusaders of this period, many reported a vision from a whirlwind of a 'great leader in heaven on a white horse' (Revelation 6:2).
Now, why am I providing this particular history lesson?
A few months ago, historian Alec Ryrie published a new work (reviewed here) entitled Unbelievers, in which he argues that the current tide of unbelief and atheism has little to do with the age of reason, but everything to do with anger and resentment at a church that seeks to impose authority upon culture in the most unreasonable fashion.
As noted in Mockingbird's review of the above in a quote from Giles Fraser: "For Ryrie, a scholar of the Protestant Reformation, the passion in question has its roots in the protest against the abuses of the church of Rome, of well-padded priests feathering their own nests, of the bullying authority of the Papacy…"
Ryrie (and Tom Holland also, in his new work, Dominion), show that Christianity broke down when it became a religion which sought to impose itself on the world by violence and intolerance, turning the entire realm of that period into a killing field.
The present intolerance, then, of Christianity, isn't just because people have stopped being 'religious' (it's pretty clear that when you talk to many, there's still a need for something beyond themselves), but because we lived through a lengthy period of time when what was supposed to have been offering the world goodness and mercy only offered them blood and fear - the totality that all dictatorships crave.
Thankfully, the story doesn't end there.
There was another, real, reformation, which focused on each one coming to know a God revealed through Christ, Calvary and the empty tomb, which genuinely revolutionised Europe and the world for the better, but the seismic events of the days that caused that benefit to come are still impacting today.
I find Nehemiah a hard book because its so much about people doing things, apparently for the right reasons, but without something deep in their affections mirroring all their labour, and faith has to be about something deep because if it isn't having that kind of an impact on us, we, and plenty of others, are going to end up in a deeply damaged state.
How we lead, and why, should always point us back to one person -
Jesus Christ.
Nehemiah 8:17.
What happens when a supposedly immovable object is exposed to an unstoppable force?
Well, according to the movie Twister, one of them has to give, but this scene shows just how human stubbornness can often prove to be a power which would drive us into harms way when we should be seeking to step back.
Back in the 13th century, the West, and particularly the Roman church, decided that the best way to break the tornado of change it was facing was by launching a new enterprise, termed Christendom (the kingdom of God on earth), and the instrument the papacy decided it was going to use for this new age was a device termed 'reformo' - yes, what you and I would term Reformation.
Nehemiah saw just how hard it was to really reform people in respect to what they really felt and wanted.
After years of wall and temple building, renewal of rites and ceremonies that hadn't seen the light of day since Joshua's time, he returned from a trip near the end of his life to find that the people had de-faulted back to their laxity and compromise (Nehemiah 13), causing him to become enraged and violent. History shows us that his outburst didn't stop the rot, and the people finally ended up displaced because of their unbelief and negligence (the root problem all along), Clearly, something better than just rules that couldn't be kept was required in that case, but what if you're dealing with a ruling power that is growing in its control over, well, everyone and everything? What if you have an 'office' that supposedly holds sway over men in respects to both mercy and justice?
What happens when such a power comes out of its corner into the ring, riled up for a fight?
The 13th century tells us.
The program commenced with an edict to see 'heretics' killed, and this was eagerly done during a very bloody crusade in Southern France (crusading, please note, isn't just seen or used by Rome as a means of fighting heathens, but of purifying the church). A few decades later, the next phase of purification commenced when a permanent religious office (still in existence today) of inquisition was established for capturing, interrogating (torturing), trying and burning those deemed impure. Over the next two centuries in the realm of Spain alone, this blight would result in some 114,000 victims, over 10,000 of whom would be burned for heresy, whilst in Rome, the papacy ruled itself to be above all earthly authorities.
Perhaps we shouldn't be that surprised, then, that in one of the early 'victories' of the crusaders of this period, many reported a vision from a whirlwind of a 'great leader in heaven on a white horse' (Revelation 6:2).
Now, why am I providing this particular history lesson?
A few months ago, historian Alec Ryrie published a new work (reviewed here) entitled Unbelievers, in which he argues that the current tide of unbelief and atheism has little to do with the age of reason, but everything to do with anger and resentment at a church that seeks to impose authority upon culture in the most unreasonable fashion.
As noted in Mockingbird's review of the above in a quote from Giles Fraser: "For Ryrie, a scholar of the Protestant Reformation, the passion in question has its roots in the protest against the abuses of the church of Rome, of well-padded priests feathering their own nests, of the bullying authority of the Papacy…"
Ryrie (and Tom Holland also, in his new work, Dominion), show that Christianity broke down when it became a religion which sought to impose itself on the world by violence and intolerance, turning the entire realm of that period into a killing field.
The present intolerance, then, of Christianity, isn't just because people have stopped being 'religious' (it's pretty clear that when you talk to many, there's still a need for something beyond themselves), but because we lived through a lengthy period of time when what was supposed to have been offering the world goodness and mercy only offered them blood and fear - the totality that all dictatorships crave.
Thankfully, the story doesn't end there.
There was another, real, reformation, which focused on each one coming to know a God revealed through Christ, Calvary and the empty tomb, which genuinely revolutionised Europe and the world for the better, but the seismic events of the days that caused that benefit to come are still impacting today.
I find Nehemiah a hard book because its so much about people doing things, apparently for the right reasons, but without something deep in their affections mirroring all their labour, and faith has to be about something deep because if it isn't having that kind of an impact on us, we, and plenty of others, are going to end up in a deeply damaged state.
How we lead, and why, should always point us back to one person -
Jesus Christ.
Saturday 9 November 2019
Beyond the dream
"Has God not made foolish the wisdom of this world?"
1 Corinthians 1:20.
It's been a week of contrasts.
Poor health, shaky job prospects (again), and unexpected pain have run alongside being presented with an award at work, enduring various hardships, and being both staggered by and able to express something of the amazing historical validity of Christianity (not to mention the sheer joy of now having a computer that's allowed me to re-engage with my photography afresh).
As I lye seeking to resolve some unexpected trouble yesterday from eating something which seriously disagreed with me, I was keenly reminded of my own mortality for the third time in a week.
Times like this are so necessary, because it's so easy for us to think we're self reliant, and that can easily slip into us becoming entirely self referential. Being stopped by poor health or difficult circumstances is often good for us, because it allows us to re-focus on what counts - to re-gain our bearings and look beyond the immediate.
My experience yesterday took me straight back to the cross and the empty tomb. Those are the moments that define what counts, because it's there that God deals with the whole problem of fallen people, and tells us that there is indeed something beyond now, and it's a something worth having, because it is entirely focused upon and accomplished by unmerited love and mercy.
People often want to argue with Paul's words about the wisdom of the cross being something which towers above the wisdom of our world, but once you see Jesus' death and resurrection for what it is, then you come to understand that when you boil it all down to what counts, all we really have is that wisdom - everything else, including me and you, are going to be gone. Only God's renewing work makes the difference.
I'll face another week, no doubt tripping over myself in all manner of ways, and knowing that my tiny life is pretty short, but I'll also know that His great love and care lasts forever, so whatever my condition or circumstances, I can know rest in the trials of life.
1 Corinthians 1:20.
It's been a week of contrasts.
Poor health, shaky job prospects (again), and unexpected pain have run alongside being presented with an award at work, enduring various hardships, and being both staggered by and able to express something of the amazing historical validity of Christianity (not to mention the sheer joy of now having a computer that's allowed me to re-engage with my photography afresh).
As I lye seeking to resolve some unexpected trouble yesterday from eating something which seriously disagreed with me, I was keenly reminded of my own mortality for the third time in a week.
Times like this are so necessary, because it's so easy for us to think we're self reliant, and that can easily slip into us becoming entirely self referential. Being stopped by poor health or difficult circumstances is often good for us, because it allows us to re-focus on what counts - to re-gain our bearings and look beyond the immediate.
My experience yesterday took me straight back to the cross and the empty tomb. Those are the moments that define what counts, because it's there that God deals with the whole problem of fallen people, and tells us that there is indeed something beyond now, and it's a something worth having, because it is entirely focused upon and accomplished by unmerited love and mercy.
People often want to argue with Paul's words about the wisdom of the cross being something which towers above the wisdom of our world, but once you see Jesus' death and resurrection for what it is, then you come to understand that when you boil it all down to what counts, all we really have is that wisdom - everything else, including me and you, are going to be gone. Only God's renewing work makes the difference.
I'll face another week, no doubt tripping over myself in all manner of ways, and knowing that my tiny life is pretty short, but I'll also know that His great love and care lasts forever, so whatever my condition or circumstances, I can know rest in the trials of life.
Sunday 3 November 2019
Dislocation
"(Previously) it was believed that what was inferred from our senses, through the apparatus of measurement, would allow us to 'know' the proper definition of the physical, so in the same way maps or guide books let us 'know' about a place, we would create a virtual replica of what makes up reality. The problem, of course, is that whilst maths may allow you to count a bunch of apples, it doesn't really allow you to engage with their taste, texture, smell - it isn't giving you the reality of what you're counting. The virtual may look convincing, but what we're really needing is a real coming to know something". C S Lewis. The Discarded Image.
The past month or so has provided some wonderful opportunities, especially as I've finally been able to obtain a new computer to replace my very old machine.
What's fascinating is seeing just how the software for such a system has moved on in a decade - the key functions remaining essentially the same, but the small adjustments adding those nuances which can either be pleasantly surprising or perhaps somewhat annoying as you engage with your new machine for the first couple of sessions.
What always takes the longest time when beginning to use such a new system is the uploading of all of your previous data in such a fashion that it is both accessible and useable once again on your new platform. I spent most of this weekend uploading the basic 'stuff' I need to provide Internet, Image, and Music, discovering various strengths and weaknesses along the way, and taking a couple of breaks to get out in the fresh air between the heavy rain and strong winds.
It's because, underneath or away from all the 'programs', that I feel so connected to something much deeper and greater, that I often find a richness and a purpose in the world, both real and virtual, that provides the impetus for my activities in work, rest and play. Essentially understanding that beyond the 'maps and diagrams' that we make for ourselves to seek to navigate through today there is a higher truth, a more substantial reality, makes all of this worthwhile, because it's just the introduction to something far more weighty.
I started the weekend talking with a friend regarding the current state of world affairs, and was quickly sobered by just how impoverished our times have become, not just because there are many in material need (and there are) or because of the growing of regimes that thrive upon injustice, but because there is so little left in our own culture that people have to depend upon. Usually, it may be their own abilities to cope, perhaps with the help of a loved one or a friend, but all of it could so easily be dissolved so quickly.
2019 has proved to be a better year for me because of a change of employment circumstances which have allowed me to leave eleven prior years of precarious living, for the moment, behind, but last year was filled with great anxiety and fear that things would be very different. What we appear to be so negligent of so much of the time is just how close our world is right now to falling over that cliff in its entirety. What will hold us if that happens?
Where do we go from here?
In the late 1700's, our culture was revolutionised - saved from the despotism it had become soaked in - by the work of the Clapham reformers. This ended slavery and child labour, brought about the first free trade unions, reformed prisons and paved the way for our own welfare state.
This had all been possible because for the generation before this, the country had been exposed to a genuine spiritual awakening that allowed people to see there was a deeper value and reality to their lives - that we really were more than a jumble of random data.
The world is sinking fast, my friends, and without our turning from our inwardness and the poison of all-encompassing materialism, we are in very real trouble.
What does it really profit us, asked Jesus, if we gain all that's available materially, but loose our own souls as a result?
It's time to heal the world.
The past month or so has provided some wonderful opportunities, especially as I've finally been able to obtain a new computer to replace my very old machine.
What's fascinating is seeing just how the software for such a system has moved on in a decade - the key functions remaining essentially the same, but the small adjustments adding those nuances which can either be pleasantly surprising or perhaps somewhat annoying as you engage with your new machine for the first couple of sessions.
What always takes the longest time when beginning to use such a new system is the uploading of all of your previous data in such a fashion that it is both accessible and useable once again on your new platform. I spent most of this weekend uploading the basic 'stuff' I need to provide Internet, Image, and Music, discovering various strengths and weaknesses along the way, and taking a couple of breaks to get out in the fresh air between the heavy rain and strong winds.
It's because, underneath or away from all the 'programs', that I feel so connected to something much deeper and greater, that I often find a richness and a purpose in the world, both real and virtual, that provides the impetus for my activities in work, rest and play. Essentially understanding that beyond the 'maps and diagrams' that we make for ourselves to seek to navigate through today there is a higher truth, a more substantial reality, makes all of this worthwhile, because it's just the introduction to something far more weighty.
I started the weekend talking with a friend regarding the current state of world affairs, and was quickly sobered by just how impoverished our times have become, not just because there are many in material need (and there are) or because of the growing of regimes that thrive upon injustice, but because there is so little left in our own culture that people have to depend upon. Usually, it may be their own abilities to cope, perhaps with the help of a loved one or a friend, but all of it could so easily be dissolved so quickly.
2019 has proved to be a better year for me because of a change of employment circumstances which have allowed me to leave eleven prior years of precarious living, for the moment, behind, but last year was filled with great anxiety and fear that things would be very different. What we appear to be so negligent of so much of the time is just how close our world is right now to falling over that cliff in its entirety. What will hold us if that happens?
Where do we go from here?
In the late 1700's, our culture was revolutionised - saved from the despotism it had become soaked in - by the work of the Clapham reformers. This ended slavery and child labour, brought about the first free trade unions, reformed prisons and paved the way for our own welfare state.
This had all been possible because for the generation before this, the country had been exposed to a genuine spiritual awakening that allowed people to see there was a deeper value and reality to their lives - that we really were more than a jumble of random data.
The world is sinking fast, my friends, and without our turning from our inwardness and the poison of all-encompassing materialism, we are in very real trouble.
What does it really profit us, asked Jesus, if we gain all that's available materially, but loose our own souls as a result?
It's time to heal the world.
Saturday 26 October 2019
Gleanings
"A life of unmitigated 'ratio' (having to define all by what can be proven) where nothing was simply 'seen' would presumably be impossible; for nothing can be proved if nothing is self-evident". C S Lewis - The Discarded Image.
This past week has given me opportunity to catch up with some theological material I've been meaning to reference for a while (highly recommended - Mike Reeves F O C L lectures on You Tube, examining items as diverse as the Christology of Karl Barth to Luther's glorious discovery of salvation by Justification through grace alone).
One message that really struck home was Chad Bird's 1517 Conference message on The Cross before the Cross. Starting in Genesis 1 and touching also on the experience of Moses, Chad shows how all divine action is essentially cruciform in its nature - the Father pouring Himself out through the Son, into creation. It's when this is allowed to happen without hinderance (by us), that we savor and wallow in the beauty of Gods exquisite goodness. It's when this stops (because of us) that we find ourselves owning a house of broken rules and, worse yet, damaged lives.
Thankfully, as Chad notes, God is used to taking what is most crude and chaotic and speaking something far better into these realms because of that cruciform nature, and it is this that gives us confidence and assurance beyond our own inevitable ability to mess it up.
This is especially important when it comes to Christian ministry. Our priesthood (service) is both to God and our neighbor, but we're not going to be effective if all we have to offer is just ourselves. What is imperative as we read through the stories of prior believers throughout the scriptures is that there is something more going on than just the messing-up that they often inhabit. Quite often, amidst that failing, God comes alongside and speaks or acts in a fashion that re-assures us of His great affection to a people entirely lost without that.
In his second epistle to Timothy, Paul grants some very wise instruction in respect to our being children of the cross. 'Do your best", he writes "to present yourself to God as one steadfast after being tested, a worker without shame who rightly handles the Word of God" (2:15). That last statement really needs to weigh on us, because it's saying that without that manner of 'rightness' in our words which spring from invaluable experience of a great truth in life (hence Paul's words about a depth to Timothy's character), we will loose what should define us in our being less than what really counts.
The key here is that it is when God's word 'speaks', everything is made afresh, so that is the life that needs to be ours. If we settle for less, then we are missing out.
Sometimes, we find ourselves so far removed from being the kind of person that is doing well, and we're not sure how we change that - how we can become the kind of person Paul is speaking about here? The good news is that in the 'darkness' of both creation and of those hours of the cross, God works His deepest, most astonishing deeds, so He can work in us in that fashion as well.
The things which are currently 'unseen' can, indeed, become seen, because there is an amazing love that is waiting for us - the Father, revealed in Jesus Christ.
This past week has given me opportunity to catch up with some theological material I've been meaning to reference for a while (highly recommended - Mike Reeves F O C L lectures on You Tube, examining items as diverse as the Christology of Karl Barth to Luther's glorious discovery of salvation by Justification through grace alone).
One message that really struck home was Chad Bird's 1517 Conference message on The Cross before the Cross. Starting in Genesis 1 and touching also on the experience of Moses, Chad shows how all divine action is essentially cruciform in its nature - the Father pouring Himself out through the Son, into creation. It's when this is allowed to happen without hinderance (by us), that we savor and wallow in the beauty of Gods exquisite goodness. It's when this stops (because of us) that we find ourselves owning a house of broken rules and, worse yet, damaged lives.
Thankfully, as Chad notes, God is used to taking what is most crude and chaotic and speaking something far better into these realms because of that cruciform nature, and it is this that gives us confidence and assurance beyond our own inevitable ability to mess it up.
This is especially important when it comes to Christian ministry. Our priesthood (service) is both to God and our neighbor, but we're not going to be effective if all we have to offer is just ourselves. What is imperative as we read through the stories of prior believers throughout the scriptures is that there is something more going on than just the messing-up that they often inhabit. Quite often, amidst that failing, God comes alongside and speaks or acts in a fashion that re-assures us of His great affection to a people entirely lost without that.
In his second epistle to Timothy, Paul grants some very wise instruction in respect to our being children of the cross. 'Do your best", he writes "to present yourself to God as one steadfast after being tested, a worker without shame who rightly handles the Word of God" (2:15). That last statement really needs to weigh on us, because it's saying that without that manner of 'rightness' in our words which spring from invaluable experience of a great truth in life (hence Paul's words about a depth to Timothy's character), we will loose what should define us in our being less than what really counts.
The key here is that it is when God's word 'speaks', everything is made afresh, so that is the life that needs to be ours. If we settle for less, then we are missing out.
Sometimes, we find ourselves so far removed from being the kind of person that is doing well, and we're not sure how we change that - how we can become the kind of person Paul is speaking about here? The good news is that in the 'darkness' of both creation and of those hours of the cross, God works His deepest, most astonishing deeds, so He can work in us in that fashion as well.
The things which are currently 'unseen' can, indeed, become seen, because there is an amazing love that is waiting for us - the Father, revealed in Jesus Christ.
Saturday 19 October 2019
Killing the System
"In the course of time, Cain brought the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground".
Genesis 4:3.
It's probably the hardest thing we have to learn to live with.
I still recall the day it hit home for me.
I'd tried so hard to be filling the role of being there, at least when it came to "ministry", for others, that I'd entirely missed the ground vanishing beneath my feet, leaving my entire future in jeopardy.
Vanity makes us so narrow of vision that we in effect become blind to what really matters.
The root problem, as some good theologians have noted, is that we so often replace God's totally unmerited mercy for a bag of devices we employ as means to twist God's arm, or, at least to convince us that is what we're doing. We are, in effect, like Adam, shouting at God from the bushes, when He wants us to face the truth and understand that aside from His intervening love, we are without any help at all.
Religion is all about when we don't accept that answer. The temptation we succumb to by such means is to believe that we have the resources to play God ourselves - to become more than we are, sinners saved by grace. We don't merely do this in rash moments, but devise whole systems of mimicking godliness so we can appear garbed in piety.
That was my problem back in those days of 'full time ministry'. I not only lost sight of Christ's unique work for us, I also lost sight of myself - of my dreadful plight without the single overshadowing of His death and resurrection.
True freedom in Christ is a very dangerous thing. Paul says that he had liberty in all things (and notes so do we); that to those who are pure (because of Christ) all things are pure - that sets parameters that are way above and beyond what religious structures and disciplines can provide, because redemption is about all creation regaining the radiance it was purposed to express.
Thankfully, redemption is all about God in Christ invading our space with the opulence of His exquisite and abundant mercy, and using such as the way to engender in us a relish for Him above all else. Grace gives the means (word and sacrament) to establish what was very good in God's full intention for the world.
We, at our very best, do what we do in weakness, but that's OK. God took the mess that I had driven myself into in my youthful zeal and showed me there was so very much more to see in the death and resurrection of His beloved, that some 40 years on, I'm beginning to see a little of the true boundaries of such extraordinary grace.
The important things is, just like those disciples Jesus met on the Emmaus road, that Christ is seen and His living word burns in our hearts.
Don't become trapped by going inward. Look to that altar, outside of the scheduled rituals and rules where the Lamb of God opened the fountain that never runs dry, paid for by the sacrifice that sustains all things forever.
Christ alone must be what we are about, because if we in any fashion see ourselves taking the reins, we are in very deep trouble.
If we truly want to see the life of God evidenced amongst us, then Paul urges indeed cajoles us to pursue one excellence alone - preach the irreplaceable person and work of Jesus, and you will rest on a surety everlasting.
Genesis 4:3.
It's probably the hardest thing we have to learn to live with.
I still recall the day it hit home for me.
I'd tried so hard to be filling the role of being there, at least when it came to "ministry", for others, that I'd entirely missed the ground vanishing beneath my feet, leaving my entire future in jeopardy.
Vanity makes us so narrow of vision that we in effect become blind to what really matters.
The root problem, as some good theologians have noted, is that we so often replace God's totally unmerited mercy for a bag of devices we employ as means to twist God's arm, or, at least to convince us that is what we're doing. We are, in effect, like Adam, shouting at God from the bushes, when He wants us to face the truth and understand that aside from His intervening love, we are without any help at all.
Religion is all about when we don't accept that answer. The temptation we succumb to by such means is to believe that we have the resources to play God ourselves - to become more than we are, sinners saved by grace. We don't merely do this in rash moments, but devise whole systems of mimicking godliness so we can appear garbed in piety.
That was my problem back in those days of 'full time ministry'. I not only lost sight of Christ's unique work for us, I also lost sight of myself - of my dreadful plight without the single overshadowing of His death and resurrection.
True freedom in Christ is a very dangerous thing. Paul says that he had liberty in all things (and notes so do we); that to those who are pure (because of Christ) all things are pure - that sets parameters that are way above and beyond what religious structures and disciplines can provide, because redemption is about all creation regaining the radiance it was purposed to express.
Thankfully, redemption is all about God in Christ invading our space with the opulence of His exquisite and abundant mercy, and using such as the way to engender in us a relish for Him above all else. Grace gives the means (word and sacrament) to establish what was very good in God's full intention for the world.
We, at our very best, do what we do in weakness, but that's OK. God took the mess that I had driven myself into in my youthful zeal and showed me there was so very much more to see in the death and resurrection of His beloved, that some 40 years on, I'm beginning to see a little of the true boundaries of such extraordinary grace.
The important things is, just like those disciples Jesus met on the Emmaus road, that Christ is seen and His living word burns in our hearts.
Don't become trapped by going inward. Look to that altar, outside of the scheduled rituals and rules where the Lamb of God opened the fountain that never runs dry, paid for by the sacrifice that sustains all things forever.
Christ alone must be what we are about, because if we in any fashion see ourselves taking the reins, we are in very deep trouble.
If we truly want to see the life of God evidenced amongst us, then Paul urges indeed cajoles us to pursue one excellence alone - preach the irreplaceable person and work of Jesus, and you will rest on a surety everlasting.
Saturday 12 October 2019
W H A M !
"The Jesus who confronts us in the New Testament, and supremely in the Gospels, is not a phantom figure, whose only importance is meaning. He is very real, and so relevant to our world because He has lived in it". Dr John Drane.
So, this week I have to say thank you to Tom Holland and his new book, Dominion - not because I'm particularly comfortable with much of what he's authored there, but principally because it gave me a jolt to think afresh about why I am a Christian, and what is so easily taken for granted about the faith that's changed our world.
Let me unpack this a little.
Mark's Gospel begins by telling us that it's an account about someone who is simply remarkable - Jesus... and this is where we immediately find ourselves undone - "the son of God". What comes in the next 16 blunt chapters is nothing short of extraordinary, but what's important to note here is that it's the person at the core of these events and what He says and does that ignites and fuels something that was already spreading across the Roman world by the time we get to the conversion of Paul.
It's imperative to understand this chain of events. The reason there was a Damascus Road moment for Saul was because there'd been a martyrdom in Jerusalem of a man named Stephen who was preaching Jesus, and the reason for that was because the day of Pentecost had seen Jews 'from every nation under heaven' hear and respond to Peter telling them about the recent events that had happened in the very place they were now standing.
Christianity doesn't begin with Paul. However key he is to the growth of both the global expansion of the church and it's application of the good news towards the end of the first century (and he truly is), the fact remains that he was part of something that was already taking the world by storm.
I say all of this because Tom Holland's book, in some respects, makes any need for a real Jesus secondary to the creeds and powers that came to bear or use his name. There's no denying that much of the surge and grandeur that came to define Christendom from the 5th to 12th centuries took place as he shows, but as other authors have noted, this was commonly at the expense of the very teachings and message of Jesus Himself, turning Christianity into a power which often brutally crushed any and all who sought to question or resist its worldly authority. The inquisition, as Peter De Rosa notes, was in so many ways the prototype for the Holocaust and the Gulags of the 20th century. The only truth to delight in here is that slowly, over the next 300 years, men awoke to the fact that the Gospel required something very different.
It's awakening to the message of the Gospels themselves that truly matters. Holland admits that behind the last two thousand years, there remains the remarkable 'myth' of the man they crucified, but it wasn't a contrivance or a story that so troubled those disciples who had travelled with him on that first easter sunday.
The original ending of Mark's short gospel concludes with these words:
"and they fled from the tomb (because of what they had seen), trembling and astonished, and said nothing to anyone, for they were terrified" (16:8).
Christianity begins with a moment of utter bewilderment and total astonishment.
It's hard for us to take in just how overwhelming this moment is, because so few events in our own lives come close, and even momentous historical changes really don't touch this,
because this, as Holland notes, is the genuine 'molten core' that drives the faith.
The world can never be the same again because of what happened on that morning at that empty tomb.
Dominion tells us of centuries of consequences of Christianity rising and falling, and no doubt much of what the author states here about the ramifications of that is true, but the real thing we need to understand is what Mark is saying about the man who was truly the Son of God. Everything else pales when we encounter Him.
So, this week I have to say thank you to Tom Holland and his new book, Dominion - not because I'm particularly comfortable with much of what he's authored there, but principally because it gave me a jolt to think afresh about why I am a Christian, and what is so easily taken for granted about the faith that's changed our world.
Let me unpack this a little.
Mark's Gospel begins by telling us that it's an account about someone who is simply remarkable - Jesus... and this is where we immediately find ourselves undone - "the son of God". What comes in the next 16 blunt chapters is nothing short of extraordinary, but what's important to note here is that it's the person at the core of these events and what He says and does that ignites and fuels something that was already spreading across the Roman world by the time we get to the conversion of Paul.
It's imperative to understand this chain of events. The reason there was a Damascus Road moment for Saul was because there'd been a martyrdom in Jerusalem of a man named Stephen who was preaching Jesus, and the reason for that was because the day of Pentecost had seen Jews 'from every nation under heaven' hear and respond to Peter telling them about the recent events that had happened in the very place they were now standing.
Christianity doesn't begin with Paul. However key he is to the growth of both the global expansion of the church and it's application of the good news towards the end of the first century (and he truly is), the fact remains that he was part of something that was already taking the world by storm.
I say all of this because Tom Holland's book, in some respects, makes any need for a real Jesus secondary to the creeds and powers that came to bear or use his name. There's no denying that much of the surge and grandeur that came to define Christendom from the 5th to 12th centuries took place as he shows, but as other authors have noted, this was commonly at the expense of the very teachings and message of Jesus Himself, turning Christianity into a power which often brutally crushed any and all who sought to question or resist its worldly authority. The inquisition, as Peter De Rosa notes, was in so many ways the prototype for the Holocaust and the Gulags of the 20th century. The only truth to delight in here is that slowly, over the next 300 years, men awoke to the fact that the Gospel required something very different.
It's awakening to the message of the Gospels themselves that truly matters. Holland admits that behind the last two thousand years, there remains the remarkable 'myth' of the man they crucified, but it wasn't a contrivance or a story that so troubled those disciples who had travelled with him on that first easter sunday.
The original ending of Mark's short gospel concludes with these words:
"and they fled from the tomb (because of what they had seen), trembling and astonished, and said nothing to anyone, for they were terrified" (16:8).
Christianity begins with a moment of utter bewilderment and total astonishment.
It's hard for us to take in just how overwhelming this moment is, because so few events in our own lives come close, and even momentous historical changes really don't touch this,
because this, as Holland notes, is the genuine 'molten core' that drives the faith.
The world can never be the same again because of what happened on that morning at that empty tomb.
Dominion tells us of centuries of consequences of Christianity rising and falling, and no doubt much of what the author states here about the ramifications of that is true, but the real thing we need to understand is what Mark is saying about the man who was truly the Son of God. Everything else pales when we encounter Him.
Sunday 6 October 2019
Harvest
Each day, as the sun rises and we enjoy all the gifts that life brings,
reminds us that we should be deeply thankful for what is given...
We plow the fields and scatter the good seed on the land,
but it is fed and watered by God's almighty hand.
He sends the snow in winter,the warmth to swell the grain,the breezes and the sunshine,and soft refreshing rain.
He only is the Maker
of all things near and far;
he paints the wayside flower,
he lights the evening star;
the wind and waves obey him,
by him the birds are fed;
much more to us, his children,
he gives our daily bread.
We thank you, then, O Father,
for all things bright and good:
the seed-time and the harvest,
our life, our health, our food;
no gifts have we to offer
for all your love imparts,
but that which you desire now:
our humble, thankful hearts!
All good gifts around us
are sent from heav'n above;
then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord
for all his love
reminds us that we should be deeply thankful for what is given...
We plow the fields and scatter the good seed on the land,
but it is fed and watered by God's almighty hand.
He sends the snow in winter,the warmth to swell the grain,the breezes and the sunshine,and soft refreshing rain.
He only is the Maker
of all things near and far;
he paints the wayside flower,
he lights the evening star;
the wind and waves obey him,
by him the birds are fed;
much more to us, his children,
he gives our daily bread.
We thank you, then, O Father,
for all things bright and good:
the seed-time and the harvest,
our life, our health, our food;
no gifts have we to offer
for all your love imparts,
but that which you desire now:
our humble, thankful hearts!
All good gifts around us
are sent from heav'n above;
then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord
for all his love
Friday 27 September 2019
The Taster
So, this year, I have been working on a new project that I hope to publish in some form, probably as a free download e-book sometime next year, but I thought it might be helpful to provide an idea of what's coming, so here's the introductory section by way of an appetizer for later.
Enjoy!
If you were to make
a list of books that Christians everywhere need to read, the one we’re going to
seek to introduce here would certainly warrant being in the top ten.
Most of us have no
doubt read the book of Galatians and are probably familiar with its key themes
about the Gospel and how we apply these words to our church and our lives is
essential. Galatians is one of the lightning rod books of the scriptures
because the issues it examines are so key to what truly defines Christianity.
Martin Luther studied
and wrote his commentary on the book during his great struggle to bring the
church back to the genuine teaching provided by the scriptures themselves, to
encourage Christians to open the rich and living words for themselves and by
doing so, to enliven and deepen their faith.
So, let’s begin
where Luther does – by laying out the key themes and goals of the book and what
these are intending to teach us.
Luther’s
introduction.
St Paul is seeking
to establish the truth concerning forgiveness of sins by a particular type of
righteousness – to allow us to understand the difference between this and, say,
civil justice or political good, or the ceremonial forms of piety that are
found in various religious practices.
Many of these forms
may prove to be good and helpful in their proper place (– at school or in the
home, in a court of law), but they cannot provide any power to satisfy the
problem of our sin or any means whereby we can truly please God or warrant His
mercy towards us. They may address some of our immediate issues and needs, but
they will always fall short of meeting and assisting when it comes to our
deepest need – peace with the everlasting God.
Paul, then, is
seeking to unfold the splendour and value of another righteousness far above
what our daily institutions can provide – this, as he will show, is Christian
righteousness; a most excellent gift which rests not upon what we seek to give
or do, but purely upon what the Almighty has done for us.
Of course, such a
wonder is often hidden.
Our weakness, our
misery and our sin are so great, that honesty jars us to the truth we find no
rest or comfort in our own small efforts before God’s holy and unrelenting
requirements for purity in His inescapable law, which truly shows us the depths
of our corruption, but brings no remedy.
We are then, in
truth, trapped by the horror of our inability to satisfy even our own basic
requirements of doing some good, never mind those required perfectly and
entirely by the law. We long for remedy that is beyond ourselves, found not in
our efforts but only, purely, in God’s mercy through the forgiveness of sins
offered to us in the giving of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The greatest wisdom
for the Christian, then, is to know that we can never attain what is truly
righteous unless God credits or imputes to us a righteousness that is not our
own – not engendered or merited by good deeds or obedience on our part, because
whilst we seek to live well, it is Christ alone that makes us well.
If we teach that we
can be made right before God by any merit of our own, by any deeds we do, then
we deny the truth we know in our bones – the genuine good does not dwell deep
within our corrupt natures. Those who would teach that we are sanctified by our
own doing must be exposed to the full and uncompromising requirements of God’s
holy and unrelenting Law – not to do the harm, but good; for them to come to
comprehend the full magnitude of their personal failure to be righteous. What
of those who understand their true distress, deficiency and guilt before that
same Law? To these poor souls there must come the full wonder of undeserved
mercy and full forgiveness God grants us in the perfect work of the offering of
His Son.
There, as St Paul
has written elsewhere, we find Christ to truly and entirely be the end of the
Law (Romans 10:4).
Whilst we seek to
do good, we understand that regarding the true nature of righteousness, which
brings safety and rest with God, we can do nothing at all. All we can bring is
our sin, our poverty, our resistance to the truth.
We have come to
understand that Christ, whom the Father has so mercifully given to us, has
become our singular wisdom, righteousness, holiness and full redemption.
In His
overshadowing, sin has indeed been expelled as the power that rules, for He has
perfectly kept the Law for us in His flesh, and offered that one sacrifice to
quell sin’s reign over us.
Where Christ is
properly taught and apprehended because of God’s great mercy, the truth will
cause us to say “Although I am a sinner by nature, rightfully judged and
condemned by the law, yet I do not despair, because Christ rose from death
after bearing the penalty for my sin, and He alone is my righteousness and my
life”.
No fear, no guilt,
no condemnation, for the very sting of eternal death – the wages due for my
iniquity – have been expunged and assuaged by the astonishing death of Christ.
This alone is what
will bring me again to life come the day of resurrection, and singly clothe the
glory of my restored body.
So now, life is
lived in the Christian between these two truths – the old nature or flesh,
oppressed with frailty of this present fallen life, continuing in death, vexed
by sin and often held by sorrow in suffering as we are pulled towards the
grave, and the new life in Christ which rejoices in the treasure of what has
been secured and sealed forever in the paradise that approaches from the
Father’s great grace.
St Paul seeks to
instruct us to be comforted by the excellence of Gods certain work of
justifying us by such love, for if this truth is lost, then so would be the
true essence and value of the faith.
In the light of
this true grace, then, we now seek to genuinely teach and lead others to the
precious waters – to speak in such a way that freedom from the tyranny of sin,
self and the rags of false religion will heal us from the miserable error that
we can live morally and therefore godly lives by thinking we can achieve
abiding by the Law.
It has fallen on us
to take very great care to carefully share and explain these crucial things so
that, when we become assailed by times of failure or discouragement, when sin
assails us or death draws close, we may in those moments find the real grace
and single comfort that these treasures can bring – that our safety and our
rest reside not in our failing flesh, but in the surpassing richness of the
marvel that our Saviour has died and returned from that death for us, that we
might be found in the overshadowing of His life alone, which is our only safety
and salvation.
It is here, then,
and only here, that we can move beyond judgement to life, for in Christ only is
to be found a righteousness that pleases the Father for us all.
We are therefore
now called upon to focus upon those sights and sounds which ring out with the
good news and its breaking and sharing with us poor souls, and to feed well
there upon what is made clear – that Christ alone is the end of the Law, of
life without hope, for He is now magnified aright as Sacrifice, Priest, Saviour
and King.
Friday 20 September 2019
Silence?
"And God Said"
Genesis 1:3
"And the whole earth was of one language, and of one accent and mode of expression".
Genesis 11:1
"And they began to speak in other languages as the Holy Spirit gave them expression, loudly and clearly".
Acts 2:4.
"A language has its own personality; implies an outlook, reveals a mental activity, and has a resonance, not quite the same as any other".
C S Lewis - The Discarded Image.
What do Professor John Lennox, a Cave in the Syrian desert, the above verses, and troubling 'idiosyncrasies' in AI computer coding share in common?
Perhaps nothing at first sight, but when Tim Mahoney's recent second film in the Patterns of Evidence series began to conclude its findings by discussing the well-nigh miraculous origins and development of ancient Hebrew, I began to see something both astonishing and troubling was afoot.
Let me seek to explain.
We're told in Psalm 2 that one of the biggest evils we now face as humanity as a result of our fallen nature is that men of authority will seek to come together in power with a particularly dangerous intent in mind - to unfasten themselves from the rightful Lordship and reign of the Almighty, evidenced through the Kingship of of His beloved Son (yes, that's all stated in the Psalm). This, as Paul goes on to show in Romans chapter one, is often a motivational imperative in much of the fashions or intents of our secular culture, and consequently leads to social activities that are marked by immorality and, worse, alienation from true identity as the ones bearing the image of our Creator. Such intentions, of course, carry the seeds of its own destruction.
The means, as shown in the events at Babel (Genesis 11) to bring this about are often found in what is expressed and agreed upon as common intent, so language and its use is fundamental to the how and the why of where we are going as a culture.
Think about how we ourselves use particular words in this respect - words like 'define'. Providing a definition can be extremely useful, but what if the definition is incomplete or inaccurate or, worse yet, given to obscure or blur something vital ?(see Lewis' chapter, Reservations in the book The Discarded Image for a very thought-provoking examination of such issues).
The recent Patterns of Evidence film about Moses and the writing of the Torah produced some fascinating material on how the original Hebrew language may well have come about in what can only be described as miraculous events, but it also hints at how all language is, in effect, God-given, so when we use such a valuable gift to malign and seek to exterminate the truth regarding its giver, we are engaged in something dreadfully sinister.
Recently, Professor John Lennox presented a fascinating talk in which he sought to examine recent social and technological trends in the world, and the nightmarish ramifications of these for our culture and particularly in respect to our understanding of God. At the core of this Babel-like slide into a religious secularism is our growing use of Algorithmic codes that can easily and selectively reject and phase out undesirable world views and beliefs. This has been witnessed in measure in events like those experienced by Jordan Peterson in Canada in the last few years (in respect to legal changes and practice in educational facilities) or the current tightening social controls in China via the ever-present use of technology to monitor and define right social behavior, but this may well be just the start. It is reported that technology that can effectively read your neurons and determine your thoughts, turning these into speech, may not be very far away. Image the consequences if this manner of 'control' becomes widespread.
What is telling is that behind much of this is not an absence of religion, but a re-directing of our religious propensities into a secular pluralism that requires unwavering adherence and total commitment by the community. It is a breed of political and social monopoly that is worryingly akin to the manner of pervasive, diabolical structure described in the final book of Lewis' Cosmic Trilogy, That Hideous Strength. What is clear is how 'arranging' language is at the very heart of this.
There is a scene in the movie The Book Thief where Max, a Jew hiding from the Nazis, tells Liesel about the almost magical power of words by writing something for her in Hebrew, echoing the essence of what John writes about Jesus as the Word in John 1. We are living in a time where that very essential truth is being perverted and re-used as 'code' to undermine the essential nature of truth. It is isn't a case of our times being unaware of God's spoken riches. It's simply a case of we want to hold from Him the right to speak - for Him to remain silent as we seek to prove Him guilty.
It is folly, and it is deadly.
There are numerous ways we can harm and murder each other, but when we inhabit a world where this particular crime is deemed proper to benefit us all, we are working to do violence against God and the value of His amazing handiwork, and the retribution of His beloved will draw near.
The truth will slay us, either for good or for our ill, but it will not long remain silent.
Let us hope and pray that such a crime does not become what defines our present age, but that the precious gift of the Word made flesh, of God with us, speaking to us, becomes vital once again.
Genesis 1:3
"And the whole earth was of one language, and of one accent and mode of expression".
Genesis 11:1
"And they began to speak in other languages as the Holy Spirit gave them expression, loudly and clearly".
Acts 2:4.
"A language has its own personality; implies an outlook, reveals a mental activity, and has a resonance, not quite the same as any other".
C S Lewis - The Discarded Image.
What do Professor John Lennox, a Cave in the Syrian desert, the above verses, and troubling 'idiosyncrasies' in AI computer coding share in common?
Perhaps nothing at first sight, but when Tim Mahoney's recent second film in the Patterns of Evidence series began to conclude its findings by discussing the well-nigh miraculous origins and development of ancient Hebrew, I began to see something both astonishing and troubling was afoot.
Let me seek to explain.
We're told in Psalm 2 that one of the biggest evils we now face as humanity as a result of our fallen nature is that men of authority will seek to come together in power with a particularly dangerous intent in mind - to unfasten themselves from the rightful Lordship and reign of the Almighty, evidenced through the Kingship of of His beloved Son (yes, that's all stated in the Psalm). This, as Paul goes on to show in Romans chapter one, is often a motivational imperative in much of the fashions or intents of our secular culture, and consequently leads to social activities that are marked by immorality and, worse, alienation from true identity as the ones bearing the image of our Creator. Such intentions, of course, carry the seeds of its own destruction.
The means, as shown in the events at Babel (Genesis 11) to bring this about are often found in what is expressed and agreed upon as common intent, so language and its use is fundamental to the how and the why of where we are going as a culture.
Think about how we ourselves use particular words in this respect - words like 'define'. Providing a definition can be extremely useful, but what if the definition is incomplete or inaccurate or, worse yet, given to obscure or blur something vital ?(see Lewis' chapter, Reservations in the book The Discarded Image for a very thought-provoking examination of such issues).
The recent Patterns of Evidence film about Moses and the writing of the Torah produced some fascinating material on how the original Hebrew language may well have come about in what can only be described as miraculous events, but it also hints at how all language is, in effect, God-given, so when we use such a valuable gift to malign and seek to exterminate the truth regarding its giver, we are engaged in something dreadfully sinister.
Recently, Professor John Lennox presented a fascinating talk in which he sought to examine recent social and technological trends in the world, and the nightmarish ramifications of these for our culture and particularly in respect to our understanding of God. At the core of this Babel-like slide into a religious secularism is our growing use of Algorithmic codes that can easily and selectively reject and phase out undesirable world views and beliefs. This has been witnessed in measure in events like those experienced by Jordan Peterson in Canada in the last few years (in respect to legal changes and practice in educational facilities) or the current tightening social controls in China via the ever-present use of technology to monitor and define right social behavior, but this may well be just the start. It is reported that technology that can effectively read your neurons and determine your thoughts, turning these into speech, may not be very far away. Image the consequences if this manner of 'control' becomes widespread.
What is telling is that behind much of this is not an absence of religion, but a re-directing of our religious propensities into a secular pluralism that requires unwavering adherence and total commitment by the community. It is a breed of political and social monopoly that is worryingly akin to the manner of pervasive, diabolical structure described in the final book of Lewis' Cosmic Trilogy, That Hideous Strength. What is clear is how 'arranging' language is at the very heart of this.
There is a scene in the movie The Book Thief where Max, a Jew hiding from the Nazis, tells Liesel about the almost magical power of words by writing something for her in Hebrew, echoing the essence of what John writes about Jesus as the Word in John 1. We are living in a time where that very essential truth is being perverted and re-used as 'code' to undermine the essential nature of truth. It is isn't a case of our times being unaware of God's spoken riches. It's simply a case of we want to hold from Him the right to speak - for Him to remain silent as we seek to prove Him guilty.
It is folly, and it is deadly.
There are numerous ways we can harm and murder each other, but when we inhabit a world where this particular crime is deemed proper to benefit us all, we are working to do violence against God and the value of His amazing handiwork, and the retribution of His beloved will draw near.
The truth will slay us, either for good or for our ill, but it will not long remain silent.
Let us hope and pray that such a crime does not become what defines our present age, but that the precious gift of the Word made flesh, of God with us, speaking to us, becomes vital once again.
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