An omission

My record keeping is spotty as is my filing. One of my bulging box files of past talks and sermons is marked ADVENT.  Over 52 solid years the material ranges far and wide, including special services and events. Whenever I open it (not difficult as contents fight to escape the flimsy catch) I often pause to remember where and when these events occurred. And, truth be told, sometimes I look back as an old preacher to see if my previous work on a particular text provides fresh inspiration for a new sermon.. 

So it was a shock to open the box and discover that the text I feel drawn to preach on in a couple of weeks' time is missing altogether.  How could I have never preached on Matt. 2:13-23?  But, when I look at it and remember the context of joyful Christmas services with all their evangelistic possibilities I can understand why I omitted it. It's such a dark passage.  Why would you want to spoil the Christmas mood?

One of the sheets of paper that fell out when I opened the file was a talk for a group of sixth formers. It was held in the famous Round Church, Cambridge, (when it was still used for worship). Not dated it must have been in the mid-80's. What hit me was the title that they gave me.  I am one of those preachers who really appreciates being given a title/theme when an organization invites me, especially when they have prayed over it!  The title was: CHRISTMAS IS FOR GROWN UPS TOO.  It's true that so much of Christmas, its build-up, parties, trappings, presents seems particularly aimed at children. Their excitement is contagious. But these sixth formers were asking for something deeper, because the miracle of the incarnation should never be dumbed down. It remains the stupendous foundation of Christian faith.

I realize that Matthew 2:13-23 does go deeper. I must prepare carefully for grown-ups in a couple of weeks' time.

A fold away funfair

On the busy A14 road, north of Cambridge, we found ourselves behind an unusual looking vehicle travelling fairly sedatedly. It was obviously a large piece of fairground equipment that had been inventively folded up between shutters. Brightly painted panels with intricate decorative strips peeped through, and nestling between them rows of coloured lights. Overtaking the vehicle I had hoped I might discover what sort of piece of fairground equipment it was. But packed away so tightly, it held its mystery. 

Disconnected from a generator it looked dead and inert. It took some imagination to visualize how it would appear on a dark Winter night. Bright lights, moving parts, and music creating wonder.  The first time I was taken to a fun fair is etched on my memory. I was six or seven and my father told me I had been suffering from flu, spending several days in bed. On recovering my father took me down to the market square in the centre of the village of Faringdon. Perhaps I had seen a picture of a fun fair but nothing could prepare me for the sheer rush of exciting immersion into this world of music, colour, and movement. My father put me astride a golden horse. As the carousel began to rotate and the horse rose and fell my father, reminiscing as an old man (which I now know all about), told me that I had a seraphic smile on my face, utterly transported into joy.  I can believe it.   

This fold-up piece of magic on the A14 vividly illustrates how this period of Advent is experienced by far too many people in our secular society. Christmas itself with all the trimmings - lights, decorations, tree, music, presents, food is an extravaganza opened up for celebration. For us, currently it is shut away in drab plastic boxes in the garage, to light up and delight in a few days time. Yet, soon it is over and packed away. A passing highlight.  The God truth of Advent and Christmas could not be more different. Of course it is spectacular that God should intervene in history in the flesh of a baby. There's so much to celebrate but it is not to be packed away as a seasonal moment. This is intervention for all time. The baby grows to become Saviour in the real world, our world. 

I am preaching again (it's rare nowadays) immediately after Christmas on so-called Low Sunday. I am drawn to finish the Christmas story in Matthew's gospel (Matthew 2:13-23).  I always believe in sharing good news and these verses are quite startling about what happens next to Jesus. Where's the good news? Well, I'm working on it. I'll let you know! 

A brilliant Thanksgiving to all our friends

I have just seen photos of my New York State family manhandling a massive turkey with evidence of all the trimmings in preparation and happy smiles all round. Today, Carol and I have been aware of our many US friends celebrating with family and friends at this special festival. I looked back to my first post about this day 17 years ago. I wrote as an amazed spectator/participant: 

I still find the turkey extravaganza of Thanksgiving Day an extraordinary occasion. Families make superhuman efforts to be with each other – far more so than at Christmas. And, with great generosity they invite others. Would you believe it, four different sets of people called us in the previous week to invite us to share in their Thanksgiving meal? Without the incentive (and turmoil) of exchanging presents, people come together gladly in order to give thanks. Thanks for the nation’s beginnings, thanks for continuing family life, thanks for friends, for great food, (with recipes handed down from generation to generation!) Thanks! Just thanks!

Of course, on the next day, so-called Black Friday, when retailers hope to go into the black, the stores are full from 5.00 am and consumer madness reignites in blazing mass-buying until Christmas. But, like an oasis in the middle, Thanksgiving Day brings people together for the high purpose of thanksgiving. This year we enjoyed our US family being with us, around the turkey. It’s been wonderful.

Thanks has always been the springboard to generous living, to appreciation of life and (best of all) to praise of God. Begin thanking and other good things keep happening. I call it the power of positive thanking. Even in a prison cell (Col. 3:17)! We need this oasis somewhere in every day.

I confess our thanksgiving meal today was low-key, during our weekly main shop at Tesco. Carol's egg and chips were OK but my breakfast is best left uncritiqued. We looked across our plates and wished each other a happy thanksgiving, pausing with some of the thanks that need to be expressed over the last 12 months. And there are many.  Hope you have many too! A brilliant Thanksgiving to all our friends. 

 

17 years, 1297 posts later

I know - yet another anniversary/ Yes, it's a sign of ageing - marking out the passing years but I must mark it's 17 years since 18/19 November 2007 when I began writing this blog. My son, Rob, urged me to jump onto this relatively new social media platform back then. With hesitation and nervousness, I doubted anything I wrote would genuinely interest other people. 

Of course, my life back then in the US was action-packed. My first post crammed three different events into in a few lines. I had been to a fascinating science lecture at Fermilab - a large research facility nearby. I recounted how the lecturer breathlessly tackled the subject of missing mass and energy in the universe How little we know - about 5% apparently. I made a Christian comment (that frequently happens!) before marvelling at our grandchild (18 months old). And I also managed in this first post to describe my visit  to Christ Community Church in the centre of Zion - a Christian community founded by a visionary preacher John Alexander Dowie who sought to shape whole town living out Kingdom of God principles. How extraordinary.to be in his study and see the fruit of his labours.

I managed 15 posts in the few weeks left in 2007. Such was my keenness and my level of interaction with church, students, and life around that words flowed. It seemed easy to post something mildly interesting. Now, 17 years later, to state the obvious, so much less happens in my life. In my eightieth year the sparseness and thinness of irregular posts is starkly evident.

I have no way of checking the accuracy of google data that accompanies my blog. Frankly I find it unlikely yet it's on the record. Over 17 years there have been 1297 posts; in the last 3 months 4.550 hits; last 12 months 62,000 hits. Leading countries are, in order of hits: Hong Kong, US, Singapore, UK, Canada, India, Germany, China.  A world map with shaded areas shows the spread of these hits.  How surprising is this. I guess my books which were translated in Cantonese and printed separately in India have something to do with this spread.

But it's barely credible. I am stunned and grateful. Some of you have doggedly held on. Thank you dear faithful readers. Thank you to everyone who has ever troubled to give me a hit! Maybe I ought to keep going a bit longer. 

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60 years on lunch

That was what it was called - 60 years on lunch. It happened yesterday when students who matriculated (began) life at Jesus College, Cambridge in 1964 were invited back to celebrate. In anticipation we were sent a dress code (no gowns required) plus a list of attendees. I wondered how many of us in hovering in our early eighties would assemble to hobble up the massive flight of stairs to the upper hall. The list had 25 names plus many spouses. Carol's name was down but her declining health meant a late sad apology.

I know I have posted before about meeting old college friends. This was the best occasion of them all. Why? Partly because we were so happy to recognize one another and reminisce. Genuinely delighted. Several remembered me primarily as an artist (!) with memories exaggerated by passing years. True, my easel and oil painting dominated my room and my exhibiting and even selling paintings were part of youthful chutzpah. I read geography, specializing in geomorphology, and the two fellow geography students independently commented that I was probably more into art than geography. One of them was a double blue playing against Oxford in cricket and football so sport loomed large in his life.  But as we shared stories and caught up with careers etc. there was a liberating positivity. It was joyful.

Partly because the food was splendid. Apparently there's a new chef, and over 2 and half hours we were feted with tasty, substantial courses which even I appreciated.  I say 'even I' because my usual diet closely follows Carol's necessary dairy free simple tastes. This was anything but simple. At the end the Master, Ms. Sonita Alleyne - the first black woman appointed Master to a Cambridge college (and yes Master is the correct address) - began with heartfelt gratitude for the meal. 'What a really great meal!' she said with such genuine enthusiasm.  From the heart. We all agreed!

And that was the third important reason. She urged us to reflect on the wonder of being alive and together, beginning with a description of the world in 1964 and in all the changes since over these intervening years we could meet with a collegiality, forged by those years in community and of such quality it still held value 60 years on. It was a secular message but it had immense spiritual resonance. Yes, I needed to say 'Thank you Lord for all this early life experience with these friends. Help me be positive and grateful as I look back and see your hand guiding all the way along'.

Compound Interest

This week we were joyfully surprised by a train visit from our London family - three of them because the older two grandsons are involved in PhD work and Uni. Our thirteen year old was therefore widely open as his grandfather pursued conversation. I reveled in this and I think he didn't mind too much (though he is very polite and thoughtful).  

Much talk revolved around his life at school.  He showed me his smart phone with the school app which keeps in  hourly contact with him. To my mind, absurd expectations from teachers are constantly demanded.  One section of the app 'Teams' involves direct links with teachers whose relationship not only involves setting mounds of work and marking results but sharing conversation if required. What was daunting was the mountain of material facing him this half term.  On the train he had been immersed in preparation for a physics test immediately on his return and several other subjects demand heavy attention.  However his food technology course has provided tasty outcomes for his family with his latest task making pizza and formulating his own pizza recipe. 

He was passionate about how AI was changing so much and, in his opinion for the worse. 'One day I reckon all teaching will be done by AI with one human monitoring results behind the scene'.

Late afternoon he volunteered to get the Chinese meal with me from the take-away.  I had given him a little money (I call it a holiday Beano fund) and I chatted about whether he had spent any in Cambridge in the afternoon. I hoped he had treated himself to something. He then solemnly told me about his approach to spending: 'When I'm in the shops', he said,' I do see things that I really like. Really like. And then I think do I really want them enough to buy them. No. It's important to realize that if you are careful and save, compound interest can add up.  It may seem small but over time it can add up.'

I congratulated him. ' I have a very wise grandson' I replied.  It's so good to talk to the next, next generation!

Gym learnings

When I was preaching regularly in the US my gym visits occasionally emerged in sermons. (How surprising say those who know me well!) 

Of course there is the obvious link between running the race of Christian discipleship with the disciplines needed. The apostle Paul makes much of this in 1 Cor. 9:24-27 - 'Therefore as a man I do not run aimlessly' v26. One memorable day I learned, with much embarrassment, how I was exercising aimlessly. I enjoyed (sort of) using the lateral weights equipment. Sitting on a bench with the weights above my head, I had to insert the holding pin to calibrate the weight load I was going to pull. I began pulling down 50 pounds in a suggested pattern of  three sequences of 12 lateral pulls. The first 12 was a doddle but with repetition muscles began protesting. Over the years I gradually built up the number of pounds, keeping a little notebook as a record (which I gather is a rather masculine trait). As I built up to 120 pounds I confess a certain measure of pride.  

Until a fitness trainer came by. Gently, because he was explaining to a paying customer whom he didn't want to correct (much) he said that my posture was hopeless as was my breathing and most importantly I was failing to pull down the weights far enough and slowly enough. 'I'm afraid it's not doing you much good' he said. Good grief. Proud snatching notched up success in my notebook but it totally lost its effectiveness. It wasn't too difficult in a sermon application to relate this to patterns of daily devotion that are too often snatched in routines that fail to give weight and wonder to the practice of talking and listening to the heavenly Father, who sees us in secret (Matt 6.6). Yes, it challenged my prayer habits.

Something else happened on the lateral weights machine too. Several machines were lined up alongside each other. Chosen weights could go up really high. I remember an empty machine next to me had a 250 plus setting from some previous muscle bound user.  Phew!  While I plonked weights up and down two teenage girls came by chatting away, chewing gum and, truth be told, not looking too athletic. One girl sat at this machine, so engrossed in talking to her friend that she didn't appear to check the high setting. Certainly she didn't change it. I looked on with concern which turned to wonderment. Effortlessly, still talking and chewing she began lifting this huge weight up and down.  And yes, you know the application.  Who are we ever to judge another? (Matt 7:1) . 

One of you wrote to me with details of his twice-a-week online training programme. In honesty, I wonder about my next steps!

I lasted 23 years!

Forgive me adding another personal note to these oddly varied postings but this week has proved significant in my life. It's not a large milestone but it's something.

Way back in 2001 at my first annual medical checkup in the USA my doctor warned that one of my blood stats revealed a disturbing lack of fitness. 'What exercise do you do?', he asked. I couldn't  escape this direct question.  'Very little' I replied. Living on campus both in London, and for my new job in Chicago meant a very few steps between work and home. Sedentary was a polite description. And, of course, in the US the car was necessary at all other times.

This honesty led to my doctor's diktat that to avoid imminent diabetes, stroke, heart attack etc. I should join a gym immediately. Joining a gym was an utterly alien thought.  But it so happened that a local gym was advertising an open week with reduced joining fees. Was that a sign? Carol, my long-suffering life-long partner agreed to join me in an exploratory visit.  A breezy overview was almost attractive. I saw a few people my age and shape who seemed to be breathing normally. 

In my public ministry I had strongly advocated the Christian challenge to steward our health - body, mind and spirit - in order to be the best we could be for the Lord.  I recall speaking to a Pastor's Stream at Spring Harvest about the need to discipline body, mind and spirit. (I confess that afterwards Carol called me out for being more than slightly hypocritical!)  

So when we signed up for our initiation session I responded responsibly as an energetic fitness trainer introduced us to basic machines and outlined the kind of programme we could safely follow. Thus began a routine that, at different gyms following each house move, has been a regular feature of weekly life. But this October 17th marks the end of 23 years  My annual subscription expires and the reality has hit me that my attendance record this past year has been appalling. I can justifiably claim that my inability to walk more than a few steps these last months plus my general ageing malaise have contributed to my absences.  

However, the truth is that my fitness ambitions have shriveled.  Hopefully I shall keep active in other more modest ways but it really does feel like the end of an era.  Even as I write this I know I am on a slippery slope. Undoubtedly my hard currency subscription disciplined me.  Will I be able to summons up discipline in the new era? I wonder.

Spurgeon's legacy

One reason why I love older books is their zeal and seriousness - especially about preaching. As patient readers of this blog will know I am desperately concerned about the often low state of contemporary preaching when it seems there is little expectation that God can change people through his preached word.  Really transform. Fullerton's book 'Souls of Men' begins by asking how the famous preacher CH. Spurgeon should be best remembered. By his church, college, orphanage, his writing, his preaching? Of course, in 1928 with Fullerton a good friend, and memories of the great preacher alive, people were constantly asking him about Spurgeon. In particular, ministers asked him whether the same kind of preaching would work at other times and produce similar results. Could Fullerton sum up the lasting legacy of this great man? Yes he could in nine words.

At length, on awakening one morning, it came to me as if spoken by the very voice of God: 'His testimony to the converting power of the gospel.'  The conversion of his hearers was the constant aim of his ministry, and therefore the constant result of it. The word 'therefore' is not used thoughtlessly. When his first student Medhurst complained that he was not having conversions Spurgeon said; 'But you do not expect conversions every time  you preach, do you? 'Oh, no, of course not!' 'And that is why you do not have them!'.....And in another conversation Spurgeon said that he did not mean the word 'expect' in a sense that he was guaranteeing conversion but he hoped it would be so....He expected it because he loved the people, because he believed they needed to be converted, and because he knew that the Gospel is 'the power of God to salvation to everyone that believes.'

He then quotes a conversation Timothy Richard (missionary to China) had in Shanghai with a man who, thinking of Spurgeon's impact, asked: 'Did you ever know a man's whole life to be changed by simply listening to a preacher for half an hour? ' That was the miracle that happened thousands of times in Spurgeon's Tabernacle.

The question that concerns Fullerton is strongly stated : 'Why does it not happen oftener today? He challenges that we need :

• a greater sense of the realism of conversion - conversion from sin. Sin must become exceeding sinful and not regarded as the almost excusable lapse of a too pliant nature. 
• a great passion for others' souls. We need to feel. Nothing great in the world is ever accomplished without passion, and this greatest of all vocations will need it the most.
• deep sympathy and deep love. In this divine task if I have not love I am nothing.
• make it your business. You will win souls if you make it your business to win them.  

I reckon that's a nugget to treasure from an old book!

 

A book, a hymn

I have posted before about the painful process of saying goodbye to my library. The ordeal is largely over but I still have a number of old volumes which have little interest to others. Before I recycle them I am looking for nuggets and triggers. Many are brown and mottled yet I continue to ask whether they might contain treasures?  Right now, open in front of me, is a 1928 book discarded from Spurgeon's College Library with the un-PC title: Souls of Men. A bookplate declares it actually came from the library of its author - W.Y. Fullerton.

W.Y. Fullerton (1857-1932) was a Baptist evangelist, writer, hymn writer and leader in the UK.  C.H. Spurgeon - the Prince of Preachers - became a friend and one of Fullerton's many books was a biography of Spurgeon (with that title).  Though inevitably dated his writing style had sparkle, energizing his prose by lively stories and quotes.

I'll come to the book in a minute but I must first mention one of his hymns that is a clear favourite of mine.  In my local church I have been able to conclude some of my preaching services with it. The music leader noticed: 'You really like this one.'  And I do.  I love it's radiant faith that really tells out the gospel with full-blooded conviction. Yet this confidence in Christ is set within a necessary wider context.  Set to the tune Londonderry each verse begins with the line: I cannot tell.  It brings realism to Christian faith.  

Verse 1 focuses on the incarnation. Why Christmas. Why did God choose to send Jesus as a baby? I cannot tell why he, whom angels worship, should set his love  upon the sons of men

Verse 2 concentrates on the suffering of the cross. :I cannot tell how silently he suffered.

Verse 3 centres on the universal mission of the Kingdom of God. I cannot tell how he will win the nations.

Verse 4 focuses on the consummation of the Kingdom: I cannot tell how all the lands shall worship.

Every time it honestly expresses how the ways of God are way beyond human thinking. How much we just cannot tell.  Revelation asks for intelligent faith but won't give comprehensive explanations. When Jesus tells us to pray he doesn't explain how it works. Rather he asks if we have a room with a door and tells us to go in, shut the door, and DO IT. 

Wonderfully, and the music helps, each admission of ignorance I cannot tell is answered by a fifth line BUT THIS I KNOW.  Oh the joy of praising God. But this I know, that he was born of Mary. But this I know, he heals the broken-hearted. But this is know all flesh shall see his glory But this I know, the skies will thrill with rapture.

I may well choose it for my funeral when non-believers will be present because it expresses the balance of heartfelt faith which firmly holds on to Jesus because he holds on to us.  Yes, I'll come to the book next but this hymn is worth a post!. 

A case study

When you read spiritual advice like James' you wonder how it might truly work out in practice. When you're in a situation where conflict seems inevitable - can Christian wisdom really heal?  I know it might seem too convenient (a preacher's trick!) but while I was preparing this sermon Derek called me. It was early morning and he had not slept all night because he was unspeakably angry and hurt at work. He is head of a department in a big organization. A keen Christian who tries to lead in a Christian way. He poured out his situation.  

Two days earlier he had led a department meeting reviewing the last few months and preparing for the next months. Together with team leaders they marked up several significant successes. But then they uncovered a major problem, which unfortunately a couple in the team had responsibility for yet had failed to complete the task. The implications were serious. Derek immediately set about trying to rectify the issue. It took a while but at the end good plans were made for its resolution.  Overall, he deemed the meeting positive.

Next morning his boss called Derek into his office. Derek anticipated a happy catching up session, but entering the room he saw another boss was present. Immediately his boss flew into a rage, railing at Derek's appalling incompetence in running his department. Accusations, some woundingly personal, were hurled at him about his many failures. Derek was utterly stunned.  How on earth did his boss know about the trouble in the previous day's meeting.  How incredibly unjust to blaze away like this. Derek asked him how he knew about the meeting but the boss said he just knew. However, Derek guessed that a long-standing critic on his team, a strong personality and friends with his boss, had malevolently spat out these accusations and lit this fire.

I listened to Derek for a long time. I admire him and I felt his anger. Actually I felt really angry too. A knee jerk reaction seemed inevitable  And then I thought of James! Oh!   Yes, a major conflict lay ahead unless a deep breath was taken, wisely realizing that belonging to Jesus adds a deep layer of reflection, a pause to take stock of motives, a recognition that this potential for conflict can develop wisely - or unwisely.  A wise Christian would gain perspective. 90% of the meeting, of the department's life was positive. This 10% issue, that was blown out of all proportion, had become so destructive. |Who knows about some of the motives of the disloyal colleague and boss (jealousy? thwarted ambition? chemistry?)  But Derek needed to look at his own motives. He could be a wise Christian. He did need to confront the disloyal colleague but without anger.  He did, and though this man at first denied responsibility he later gave a spoken and written apology.  Derek was not going to allow all the good in his department to be destroyed. And, similarly with his boss, he pointed out the unnecessary anger and injustice, but he sought to reduce tension and make peace honorably.  

Wonderfully, Derek called me a few days later and told me how a fight was avoided. Indeed, all that anger was gone. He'd been a wise Christian. James has taught me that when conflict arises we need A BIG REFLECTION BUFFER TO TAKE A BREATHER WITH JESUS. To ask about our motives - Why am I feeling this way? How best can I respond to this offence? How can I behave and relate like a wise Christian? Strong stuff, eh?

Wise Christians BEHAVE and RELATE TO OTHERS differently

 1. Wise Christians behave differently. In 3:13-17 James is most concerned about working out the practical implications of being wise Christians. He asks: Who is wise and understanding among you?v.13 And answers that those who are wise and understanding show it by their good lives, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. Their wisdom shows in the quality of their lives and actions.  Because if we live by spiritual wisdom, Jesus Christ wisdom, it is not just a matter of understanding but also of behaviour which flows from a wise living relationship with Jesus and the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

What a staggering list of characteristics are involved: pure (that is especially about our motives), peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere (verse 17).  Especially, wise Christians are peace makers.  This list deserves serious attention. What a combination of qualities.

And what a contrast with the 'wisdom' (it's in quotes) that does not come from heaven which is earthy and unspiritual. Such wisdom harbours bitter envy and selfish ambition, disorder and every evil practice (verse 15).  The unwise Christian remains captive to basic motivational forces of envy and ambition and almost delights when they see disorder and hurt for people with whom they have a poor relationship.

2. Wise Christians relate to others differently. Now James comes to his crunch question with which we began: What causes fights and quarrels among you? (4:1) He sees their cause lies within us. Fights and quarrels come from desires that battle within you. You want something and you covet it, you quarrel and fight.  And when you pray (yes, he's addressing praying Christians) what matters is how we ask. Because when we don't receive God's best it's because we ask with wrong motives bound up with our pleasures.  Bluntly, when something goes wrong in a relationship unwise Christians are not pure in their motives, asking whether envy, selfish ambition, causing disorder or worse is the trigger for their anger.  Is there a single quality in that list above in verse 17 that genuinely pleases us?  When someone offends us, how likely are we to pause and consider what makes for peace in the relationship? Or being considerate, full of mercy and good fruit?  All that goes out the window in our knee jerk response!

I need to be careful because I must not give the impression that I know much about Freud but mention of pleasure (4:3) reminded me of his emphasis on the pleasure principle as the initial principle of life.  As he put it: 'The aim of the pleasure principle is to rid the person of tension, or to reduce the amount of tension to a low level, to avoid pain and find pleasure.'  From a very different angle to James (very different!) he is analyzing why the inside battle goes for the soft pleasure option. Why trouble yourself to seek peace or be considerate when offended by someone.  The pleasure principle motivates us to stir up fights and quarrels! 

We need wise Christians

When we think of wise people we tend to identify people whose life experience and personality makes them especially trustworthy.  Mature people who help us see perspective and gain balance when we are perplexed. As children it's Owl in 100 acre wood to whom |Winnie the Pooh and his friends can go, though Owl isn't always wise! Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, Obi Ben Kenobi in Star Wars. Exceptional characters.

But when the New Testament views wisdom it's dramatically different.  It's not about the few exceptional people, Gandalf, Obi Ben Kenobi etc. It's a gift of UNDERSTANDING shared by the Spirit when believers in Jesus experience a totally new way of seeing life. The apostle Paul in 1 Cor 2. contrasts spiritual wisdom with earthly wisdom. And spiritual wisdom is not about a few special individuals but ever since Pentecost a possibility for everyone who believes in Jesus.  It's a completely different kind of wisdom which 'gets' the story of the cross and is open to the wonder of God's love in Jesus.  In contrast earthly wisdom of unspiritual people seeing the cross as utter foolishness. To such people the whole bundle of God talk is deemed irrelevant to living properly in our world. Who needs Jesus and the crossto get on in the world? Secular conventional wisdom reigns supreme.

In the church this spiritual wisdom is one of the wonders of being together.  Paul actually claims that Christians together have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2.16). It is possible to see things, understand things like Jesus. I have always marvelled at those saints I have met along the way who so clearly have this depth of understanding. As a 16 year old I was so inspired by this older man, a farm labourer with outdoor weathered features, who rode his bicycle to church. A self-taught pianist he used to accompany enthusiastically and loudly our mid-week prayer times. But when he spoke there was a quality of spiritual wisdom that was deep.  Since then I have met many more like him.  Ordinary people with undeniable spiritual wisdom. 

But how in this passage, James 3:13-17 does James view wisdom?  Typically, absolutely typically, his definition isn't about UNDERSTANDING.  He assumes that.  Rather he defines it by BEHAVIOUR. It's an intensely practical definition.  Actually, this forms the first part of this passage, preluding James' application in 4:1-6, to which we come to shortly.  Chapter divisions were added later to help us but on this occasion they are in danger of interrupting the flow.  First his practical definition.

Sitting comfortably/uncomfortably

Today I preached again. It's 12 weeks since my left leg gave way and I shared my gloom with you my kind readers as I staggered through rehab. The progression (and yes, definitely progression) has been slow and painful. Through crutches, splint, rollator, excruciating physiotherapy, I am now using a stick this last week. This gives the appearance of normality but with wobbles and pain So, for my return to preach in the sermon series on James in Bluntisham today, I needed to sit. My set passage was James 3:13- 4:6 with the title ' Living Wisely.'

I began with a brief explanation of why I had to sit in comfort and then remarked that making you comfortable is not James' specialty! Indeed for much of his letter he lobs out very uncomfortable practical challenges. On the dangers of favoritism, snobbery, uncontrolled tongues, trusting in material prosperity. It's often noted that the book's themes echo the Sermon on the Mount, but this step brother of Jesus likes to add his own punch.  Oh Yes!

And what is the central issue in this reading. James is concerned that people cannot seem to get on with each other. 4:1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Why is it that in every group of people whether at work, at play, at home, at worship, tension and division arises? We've probably had enough of the Gallagher brothers and Oasis reforming (though I never know who might have patiently got tickets). I saw a newspaper spread with the headline: Inside Story; the Greatest Breakdown and Reunion of the Century! But the truth is we all know about breakups, sometimes we have been sadly involved. People cannot seem to go along in relationships without trouble. In my first job as a teacher in a Junior School when as a keen young man I was introduced to the staff I very quickly learned that so-and-so didn't speak to so-and-so, and that there was history between two others.  I found, as the newcomer, different sides tried to coopt me as their friend!

It's much more tragic that James is writing to the church: What causes fights and quarrels among you? The very group that should know about forbearing one another in Jesus' love, with great themes like reconciliation. That we should be riven with breakdowns, fights and quarrels is tragic.  But it happens. And James is concerned to confront it. 

How does he teach us? His answer is a surprise. In answer to the question what causes fights and quarrels he says it's a lack of wisdom.  Christians who fight and quarrel are not being wise. Really? Is that the reason?  Let's see.......

Bookends

I chuckled when two large volumes came through the international post ($60) last week.  They speak of a beginning and ending to a chapter in my life. In 1994 I was invited to be a guest lecturer in the E.Y. Mullins preaching conference at Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville.  That conference was  my first intensive experience of spending a few days (yes, a few days!) focused on preaching and, best of all, I shared the seminary's luxurious hospitality house with two of the best known preachers in the US - Tom Long and William Willimon. That honour has remained with me ever since. There I was a mere junior on my first US preaching encounter sharing meals with two gracious giants.  I had to give a lecture and share each evening preaching session with Will Willimon, as both of us gave consecutive sermons to an extraordinarily attentive packed auditorium.  Several times I asked myself why I was there?

As a first it is burned in my memory.  At the conference's conclusion I was shown into a study where some duplicate homiletical volumes occupied a shelf, and I was invited to select whatever I could manage in my luggage allowance. I had so little specific preaching literature.  Among the volumes was the Handbook of Contemporary Preaching (1992). a dense book comprising essays from leading teachers/preachers covering a wealth of counsel. I looked at the authors and recognized so few. Dipping into its sections I felt overwhelmed.  

Big surprises continued. The following year I was invited to be the main speaker at the E.Y. Mullins conference and returned to share in a memorable US opportunity.  I was quickly growing up in a new preaching world.

But why the chuckle when these two books arrived?  Well the second edition of the Handbook of Contemporary Preaching has just been published.  As I review it this time I am thrilled to know so many of the authors. And, as you might guess I have a chapter in this one. It's in the section Preaching and the Ministry entitled: The Role of Preaching in Ministry.  So my little story has come full circle bookended by the first and second editions of this book.  Actually it does mark the conclusion of my writing on preaching. Yes, I'll still keep bible reading notes (if invited again) and some preaching (if invited) but this is my swansong. And I am so so grateful to God for his calling and guidance on this surprising journey.

Joyous Jude

The last two verses (24,25)  are glorious. I have used them countless times as a benediction to close worship and send the congregation out with confidence in God's promise. TO HIM WHO IS ABLE TO KEEP YOU FROM FALLING AND TO PRESENT YOU WITHOUT FAULT AND WITH GREAT JOY - TO THE ONLY GOD OUR SAVIOUR BE GLORY, MAJESTY, POWER AND AUTHORITY, THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD, BEFORE ALL AGES, NOW AND FOREVER AMEN.  Oh yes. Let it be true for me. 

It never struck me before preaching this sermon how this conclusion is so vital. Hearing Jude's harsh words would have been so tough on this church.  These were warning words which any sensitive soul would have taken to heart, and likely felt they had let Jesus down in behaviour and thought. Some might have wondered how God could possibly be pleased with them. It is exactly this sobering context in which these words ring out with such joyful promise. We need to hear that there is one, and only one, who is able to keep us from falling. Living the Christian life in fellowship with Jesus is demanding. You want to stay close to the end but you cannot depend on others to help you. Not godly parents, a loving church fellowship, an encouraging pastor.  Nobody else can keep us going strong. Certainly not ourselves. There are times when we feel spiritually strong, standing firm, wearing the armour of the Christian fight.  But we know all too well how we can be hit by weakness, by spiritual wobbles. Like D.L.Moody said: 'I've been filled with the Holy Spirit but I leak.' Yes, it's very possible to fall.

That's why we need to hear these words.  It's not just that God is able to keep us from falling as we seek to trust him but that he is able to present us without fault. That's extraordinary.  No one knows more than us our sins of omission and commission which spoil discipleship but at the end, because of Jesus' love, mercy, forgiveness  we are presented without fault.  And oven more - with great joy.  It's all through Jesus' work on the cross and his risen power in our lives.  This is the hope to live by.  

On Facebook  I saw a quasi Christian motivational prayer:  Motivate your day. There's about to be a shift.in your life. You have been through enough and a breakthrough is on its way. Amen.   What dangerous horoscope hokey stuff.  Wishful self-affirming prayer!  We need something solid for tomorrow.  Only God our Saviour can offer future hope. Jude's ending high note should ring in our ears. .

Harsh Jude 2)

Now for the difficult part. Verses 5-16 are tough read.  As mentioned earlier (June22 post) they contain references to stories only told here, citing documents not elsewhere in Scripture. But no one can doubt the severe tone. The Message puts verse 5: I'm laying this out as clearly as I can, ever though you once knew all this well enough and shouldn't need reminding. Here it is in brief: The Master saved a people out of the land of Egypt. Later he destroyed those whose defected.' This church, he wants to encourage, has to be reminded that God is judge who condemns bad behaviour and those who turn their backs on him. In spite of what God has done for his people they have totally lost their way. Sodom and Gomorrah are examples of people deserving judgement, serving as examples of those who suffer God’s punishment.

When a church hears messages that dilute responsibility to live for God in his way, it faces God's judgement. These false teachers, he calls them dreamers v 8, are condemned because they are destroying the faith by their behaviour and teaching. Grumblers, faultfinders boasting about themselves they flatter others for their own advantage, verse16.  What an indictment! Beware affirmation without accountability.   Happy words without gravity. Endorsement of current lifestyles without the wonder and work of the Kingdom of God. And how much we need each other and the Holy Spirit to live in the balance between joy of salvation and obedience in the kingdom.  Like Jude writes subsequently: 'But you dear friends build yourselves up in your most holy faith, and pray in the Holy Spirit. Be merciful to those who doubt' verse 22. 

Did I find this an easy part of the sermon?  No! And nor did the congregation! I paused to remember how I have placed on my bathroom cabinet the famous E. Orthodox Jesus prayer for every morning: Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me a sinner. I confess not every morning, but it's there to be said from the heart, to give perspective about how Jesus is my Saviour and I need his help to be more like him. I remember talking to a church leaders' conference about the importance of confession.  Afterwards a couple talked to me. How often would you say a prayer like the Jesus prayer? they asked. 'Well, most days and certainly some confession whenever we worshipped', I replied. With indignation they both chorused: 'No. That's unthinkable and unnecessary when you have been saved, cleansed and healed by Jesus.  I understood they offered optimistic leadership with good news and nothing should spoil that. And good news is central. But its such a difficult balance.  I am special but as his disciple Jesus has high expectations and there is 2 Cor. 5:10!

Afterwards a member of the congregation sent me a quote from David Benner (The Gift of Being Yourself);' Some Christians base their identity on being a sinner. I think they have it wrong - or only half right. You are not simply a sinner; you are a deeply loved sinner. And there is all the difference in the world between the two'.  Yes - half right.

 

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Harsh Jude

One reader recently commented positively about earlier posts on Jude. Thank you, but it stirs me to finish the task. My first two themes in Jude were admittedly loosely connected with the text but this next section really goes to the heart of Jude's passion. 

Last Sunday the BBC service highlighted Eric Liddell's life, linking in with the 100 years' anniversary of his Olympic win, celebrated in Chariots of Fire.  During the service they sang his favourite hymn by F.W. Faber.: 

There's a wideness in |God's mercy, 

 Like the wideness of the sea. 

There's a kindness in his mercy 

Which is more than liberty.

Further lines stress this theme: And the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind ....We magnify his strictness with a zeal he will not own.  

Later on Songs of Praise this same hymn was sung to emphasize the theme of inclusion. These words do speak movingly of God's mercy and (often) our lack of it.

When you consider church styles of worship they can range between emphasizing good news with joy, smiles, celebrating with Hallelujahs and affirmation that God loves you. You are special. At the other extreme is a seriousness where the weight of God’s expectations involves confession and tears with challenges like 2 Cor 5. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body whether good or bad.  Of course, this is nothing to do with Jesus' redemption of us, but everything to do about the quality of our actions. That Christianity isn’t a free ride to feel good about yourself but an invitation to live the good life of discipleship in his kingdom. 

It seems as though Jude wanted to stay in the sunshine of celebrating good news. Being positive. Verse 3 almost says I would have liked to be positive about all the good things but I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith.  Contend is a fighting word – I’m begging that you fight with everything you have in your for this faith.(Message). Jude sees danger. Something is going wrong in their church and they have to put it right. V4 Certain men have secretly slipped in among you. Godless men who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.  Notice that the teaching is about ethics and doctrine. Always these are bound together – how we behave depends on what we believe. Water down who you believe God to be in your life and you can become more casual in life-style. 

It's wonderfully true that there's a wideness in God's mercy but there is also the reality of accountability before the judgement seat of Christ.  Jude is going to be harsh.  

Surprise sketch

I was genuine in my wish to pass on freely my Clevedon sketches (to the surprised owner). There comes a time when you can have too much stuff.  But to my amazement, replacing my disposal of Dial House a few days later on the same trip, I received a couple of sketches from Christine, the widow of Stuart - a dear friend who died a couple of years ago.  Stuart was an artist with a studio and shop in Porlock near Minehead.  I had known him since the late 1970's and grown to love him as a deep Christian friend whose artistic eye and heart saw things differently.

Using pen, pencil, water colour, oil and acrylic he reveled in creating art with an extraordinarily wide range of subject and style.. I loved visiting his shop and our long walks together. He was much more than an artist with valuable gifts as a co-manager of the Baptist Holiday Fellowship hotel and apartments in Minehead where we first met him and tasted his cooking and benefitted from his decorating and practical skills.  Multi-talented he was devoted to his family and a loyal supporter of Christine as she rose through the political tanks to become Chair of the Somerset County Council.  Covid prevented me from attending his funeral but I was thrilled to be the speaker for their Golden Wedding.  He was a very special guy.

We saw Christine during our Minehead stay and as we were leaving she gave us (and our London family) a couple of his sketches to remember Stuart and Minehead harbour. Simple lines and colour wash. And worth keeping when other stuff has to go. Bless you Stuart. 

Flashback illustrated 2)

I realize my plan to disturb a resident in this way is rather odd. Arriving in Clevedon I parked outside the main gate into Dial House.  Manipulating my rollator into action I trundled up to the iron gate only to find it impossible to open it's latch.  This left us no choice but to walk along the pavement to the garage drive where two upmarket cars were parked. Unfortunately, entering the drive the only way to the house front door meant crossing the lawn. Pushing my rollator with Carol gamely alongside we heard dogs barking inside. In fact three dogs. While we were still on the grass, the front door opened with the houseowner setting free the dogs which rushed up to inspect us. She looked utterly bemused as this elderly couple plodded onto the front path and up towards her. I can only imagine her mind racing through the possibilities.  Probably she had rejected ideas that we could be dangerous or lost.  But she looked distinctly troubled. I didn't blame her.

As I was approaching I announced that I had something to show her that I was throwing away but before I did she was one of the very few people who might be interested.  She looked unhappy still. I really didn't blame her. I told her, 'For many summers through the 1950's and 1960's my brother and I came here every year for our holidays to stay with our grandparents.  They were wonderful days. When I was older, about 14, 15 I was into drawing buildings and I made a couple of the outside of the house.' She came forward looking worried. Unrolling them she was at first silent and then commented that the rose garden had now gone. I burbled that very little else seemed to have changed.  

Telling her that she could throw them away now she had seen them, we both turned to walk down the path to try the main gate again. After another failure to open it (she said it was difficult!) we retraced our route across the lawn. As we were nearly out of sight she shouted out, 'What year was this?' '1959, I think', I replied. And that was that!

I wonder what happened when other members of her household heard later of this bizarre happening. Perhaps she had disposed of the sketches already!  She had asked nothing about me or my grandparents.  But when you are disturbed like this you don't necessarily think clearly.  Friends hearing this story asked whether I was disappointed that we weren't asked in. To be honest, yes, I was. But I really couldn't blame a stunned lady wanting a quiet cup of tea on her own. I am glad I made the effort and it decluttered a little of my archives.

Flashback illustrated 1)

The physio dept. dealt out a fair amount of 'no gain without pain' and has set me on a path of discipline with knee exercises before I return in one month's time. I was hoping for a more immediate path to healing but recognize some things take time. And that patience in a biblical virtue.

However, I can report on something that happened a few days ago.  On our journey to the W Country we stopped overnight at Clevedon which happens to be one of the Quicke heritage sites.  For several years my retired grandparents lived there and during the 1950's and early 1960's they lived in a magnificent stone house which seemed a mansion to us small grandchildren. With lawns on four sides especially in the rear it was our playground every summer.  Packed off to be with (long-suffering) grandparents we reveled in being at the seaside. As an impressionable child many details remain locked in my memory - of the hallway, main rooms, pictures and upstairs the bedrooms.  The gardener (yes, they employed one!) made a go-kart for my brother and me. Painted green with our names on the side we spent hours on imaginary journeys pushing each other around what seemed to be a large estate.

We continued to visit as I entered my teens. We celebrated my grandparents' Golden Wedding at a nearby hotel followed by tea in the garden. A few photographs remain but it's fresh in my recollections. And, of course, it was the base for trips to the sea and Bristol Zoon.  Great times!

Some time ago I was looking through some of my early artwork and discovered some sketches I had made when I was in my 'architecture phase'.  When asked what I would like to be when I grew up I announced: An Architect. I enjoyed sketching buildings and on one visit when I was 14 or 15 I took my pencils to Clevedon. Only a couple of drawings remain. Drawn on cheap paper they reveal the house around 1959. Below is the front of the house. It catches something of the solidity and spaciousness of Dial House.

Returning to Clevedon I had found this sketch again and pondered whether the current owner would like to see it?  It's future will be for the rubbish bin but perhaps someone would be interested? Perhaps?!

3 weeks later

After 3 weeks of grimacing, painkillers and a total inability to find any way of resting my left leg comfortably I am at the hospital physiotherapy dept. tomorrow.  Apologies for the long gap in posting but it's limitations have somewhat dominated life.  The worst thing has been the absence of advice so that wearing my splint and wheeling my rollator as I attempted to negotiate events, including a week's holiday with my London family (in Minehead at the subsidized Baptist apartments!) may not have been the best way of recuperating.

As I have just returned home after nearly 6 hours driving from the W. Country with my left leg motionless as my right leg operated the car I really wonder whether this was the best idea. Probably not.

Anyway, tomorrow I find out the best way to aid the healing process.  Hopefully I shall know how to make some solid progress after wearily marking time, and I shall feel much more myself.  Perhaps even writing a less self-pitying post!  

Guff

I had hoped to wrap up some Jude thoughts but unfortunately a 'flesh is weak' episode has grounded me this last week and pain has somewhat befogged my mind.  Last Thursday early morning I asked our surgery (by email) for help about my painful left knee.  Called in for a face-to-face appointment (a golden chance) I was told it was probably osteoarthritis etc. etc. Walking back to the central Cambridge car park with some effort, I crossed a road only for my left leg to lose power and catapult me into railings by the pavement.  The knee had decided enough was enough.

With an heroic struggle (!) I drove home prepared to lose the rest of the day in emergency care in hospital. Which is exactly what happened.  As I retold the story 7 times to a stream of enquirers I explained there was no fall, no sudden twisting, no apparent cause. The knee just gave way.   Xrays followed as did the ill-fitting of a very uncomfortable splint. Paracetamol is supposed to give relief. Supposed to. 

Today the damage was diagnosed as anterior dislocation of the knee requiring several weeks of healing and physio.  The latter is scheduled for 'sometime' in the future. 

I know some kind friends are praying for me - how I value your care.  I'll try to fit in finishing off Jude shortly having worked hard on that last sermon.  I want a post with some meat in it, not just personal guff. Sorry, this was personal guff.  Is that a word...guff?

Tough humility

I admit my last post on FAMILY was loosely hung on the text.  That's true of my second point too! When Jude describes himself as a Jesus' slave and a brother of James he does not appear to be pumped up with self-importance. I don’t want to push the evidence of one phrase but it seems that Jude is saying it really doesn’t matter who I am.  Whether he was a truly humble person or not, his self-introduction gives opportunity to sound out one of the most difficult challenges of Christian behaviour: HUMILITY 

That’s a staggering attitude for human beings to take. In humility consider others better than yourself. Each of us should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others (Phil 4:3). As Message  puts it: Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage.  THINK ABOUT YOURSELF IN THE SAME WAY JESUS DID. Of course ego is important. You need to know you have a purpose, you're not a wall flower. Yes, you are loved and special to |God but in God's sight you are not more special than others.  He makes you count more than ever before but never more than any other of his family. 

Honestly, we do tend to place ourselves in a ranking with some people more important above us and plenty of people who aren’t as important below us.  Wrong. So wrong. In humility consider others better than yourself   What a powerful contrasting way for Christians to live together Those with prime gifts are not more significant in the body of Christ than others.  

John Wesley set a high bar when he warned: Oh beware! Do not seek to be something! Let me be nothing and Christ be all in all.  A friend sent a message this week:  He wrote: 'I think this is true'. And underneath he copied a T.S. Eliot quote:  Most of the trouble in this world is cause by people wanting to be important.  I think that's true too. How many rampant egos have destroyed relationships and organizations? 

A story is told in the early church when Emperor Domitian ordered that any remaining physical members of Jesus' family should be rounded up. He wanted no future centre for rebellion  They found Jude's grandsons, arrested them and brought them to court only to find that they were such ordinary people - hardworking, unimportant peasants. They dismissed them as totally harmless and of no consequence.  It’s true that our local churches must appear to comprise such ordinary people who can be dismissed as harmless.  But when people live like Jesus in humility, counting others better than themselves, they are living a revolution which Scripture calls 'new creation'. And that cannot be dismissed, can it? 

On the way with Jude

 As was evident in my last post my covid illness has hung around and I wondered about whether Jude would get a hearing today in Bluntisham Baptist Church. But the good Lord gave me stuttering improvement through this week. The eventual sermon emerged as different themes hit me in preparation. Some have looser connection with the text than others. Let me give you a couple of examples. First, I highlighted FAMILY

Thinking of James and Jude makes you think. How we wish we had mote detail. However, we do have that family list, as people began responding to Jesus' ministry. In Matt. 13:54 some people who clearly knew his family say: Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas.  That last name gained a certain reputation (wonder why?) so the abbreviation Jude could easily be our writer. . 

All this raises questions about how Jesus' family behaved towards him.  All families have dynamics and sometimes dysfunction.  We wonder about that moment when part of the family group appears to treat Jesus negatively.  As Jesus gains popularity they arrive to take him away. They seem to use pretty unsupportive language: 'He's out of his mind (Mark 3:21).  Who knows the motive. Perhaps they were worried about his safety. Maybe they thought he needed psychiatric help!  Who knows what feelings of sibling rivalry might there have been? It really looks like his family is  having a hard time believing that big brother is all that these people are saying.  

How we wish we know more.  How the relationships develop as momentum grows in Jesus' ministry.  When the utter blackness of the cross seems to be the end there is terror and brokenness for his mother who is there. Maybe other family members are present too.  And in the glory of the resurrection when everything changes for the better it is wonderful to read about Jesus appears to James and to 500 people in 1 Cor 15. Within this family story its members have moved from puzzlement to conviction.  Transformed by the risen Jesus, James and his younger brother Jude seem overwhelmed in love as they throw themselves utterly into following Jesus as Lord and Saviour. In AD 61 James will be martyred. 

Reflecting on family dynamics, rivalries, relationship breakdowns going tragically wrong, how wonderful to see Jesus' physical family apparently coming together so well.  Mentioning physical families challenged me about my own brother - and how the relationship is. How is it with your brothers and sisters? How good it is when relationships come together well in our physical families!    

Everything's an effort

Thank you to friends who have checked in about our covid recovery.  Having tested negative a week ago we have now entered the 'everything's an effort' stage. Energy bursts turn out to be trickles. Surges of activity (born out of half glass full optimism) are followed by fading and jading. Several times Carol and I have felt we have turned a corner to discover there's another corner backwards round the corner.

Frustratingly appointments have had to be cancelled and I wonder when I can go firmly with my next commitments.  In particular I am concerned about my next preach on June 30th.  I have the task of preaching on Jude in the Bluntisham series on Overlooked Books of the Bible.  It's not an easy task. Read it through and you realize why it's overlooked! Working out who Jude was requires some guess work and when you see some of his words, quoting books not included in the Old Testament there is much that is odd. Like the story (verse 9) about archangel Michael disputing with the devil over Moses' body  (in a book called the Assumption of Moses). Or his references to Enoch (verses 14,15) from the Book of Enoch.  In verse 18 he quotes the apostles though there is no record of them saying that.  So, why give over time to preach on Jude?   

I saw a headline two weeks ago: THE AGE OF JUDE.  Inside there was a double page spread about Jude Bellingham. A dense biography of this 20 year old footballer as he makes impact in the Euros. (As I write, not as much impact as the nation hoped...but there's time!) There was so much detail about his life - perhaps more than I needed. The thing about the NT book of Jude is that we only have one sentence. One sentence as a clue to who he might be.  And frankly it raises questions, involving a great deal of guesswork. 1 sentence only: v1 Jude. A servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James.  

A servant of Jesus Christ opens up wide possibilities. Someone who belongs body, mind and soul in the service of Jesus. The servant word is close to slave.  But what about the second part? That is more specific: a brother of James. James was a popular name but there is one James more than any other who becomes leader of the church in Jerusalem and is the key figure in the early church. See  his role in Acts 15. We have his letter which is not one of the overlooked books of the Bible. Later he's known as James the Just. And what is the most distinctive thing about this James?  He is brother of Jesus. When Paul visits Jerusalem to meet Peter he describes how he met one apostle: Gal 1:19  James the Lord’s brother.  And that means that if Jude is a brother of James he also is a brother of Jesus. Now most early readers would know of James. So it makes sense for Jude to describe himself like this.

But being a brother to Jesus - WOW.  I guess this is why they had to include this letter in the canon. 

 

Covid hits

Two Sundays ago I was merrily in fellowship with shared responsibility for a busy prayer corner after the morning service and a good healthy feeling about life. But, later that same day I was hit hard by flu like symptoms with sore throat, head ache, coughing, nausea and exhaustion.  Unaware of having been in any unhealthy places, I struggled the next couple of days to wade through the symptoms, hoping Carol would stay free. Alas, on Wednesday she succumbed!  It then dawned on me that this was a heavier issue than a cold/flu.

I dug out the boxes of Covid tests that were left over from the height of the pandemic 18 months ago.  One large box had dried out completely.  The other expired last September but a couple of test tubes still had some liquid in them. When I tested myself I was unsurprised that the two bars shone positively and instantly.  No doubting this was the real deal!  Neighbours bought some up to date tests to use for Carol.  The same positive result emerged instantly.  In spite of me having all the covid injections on offer somehow the latest variant has sneaked through the defences.  And it is utterly miserable.  I have slept large slabs of time since which at least is a good escape mechanism.  But it's taking its toll.

We tested again with the same positive results three days ago but I have just emerged into negative territory.  Carol has been behind in recovery but is at last making progress.  I know that so many others have been through these suffering cycles - perhaps including you. It has interrupted several plans and appointments but how we deal with interruptions is an indication of our maturity and patience ( or lack of them!)  Seeking to be mature and patient!

A last Hurrah!

Denuded of my preaching library and with fewer outlets for research, I pondered whether I could offer any words of value to this volume. But then a thought struck me! In 2014 the US seminary where I was teaching was chosen by the Lily Foundation to contribute research to its national project titled: ‘Strengthening the Quality of Preaching.’ I seized the opportunity to design a response called ‘A New Kind of Preacher (NKP)’ which resulted in conferences, peer learning groups, two books and shared fieldwork influencing a few hundred pastors. However, owing to a change of seminary personnel, the books were never published and, sadly, the programme lost momentum with my work disappearing.  I wondered whether a compressed essay in this festschrift might give this lost work one last Hurrah!  

I admit my thinking was absurdly ambitious. Instead of concentrating on the task of preaching and the act of sermon making, I dared to question the role of sermon makers, probing theological questions about who preachers are in relationship to God, to their congregations, and to the surrounding culture. Not so much about what they preach as to how and why they preach. On the persons of preachers.

To encapsulate the project’s concept as well as its structure I proposed this definition. The Preacher thinks and feels deeply about God, has self-knowledge, and is called by God to pastor the congregation as a lead worshipper, proclaimer, collaborator, community builder and missionary.

 It begins theologically, with concern that preachers have a lively understanding of Trinitarian dynamics not only for seeing more of how God works in the world but experiencing how he is involved with them in the preaching act. Pivotal for integrating five roles, I use the term pastor to express the foundational relationship with a congregation.  The five roles define dimensions of the preacher’s ministry. Not all hold equal significance. Lead-worshipper, Proclaimer and Missionary are prime roles with Collaborator and Community Builder playing indispensable supplementary roles. Whenever any one of these roles is diminished so is preaching. 

A range of preaching genres is closely connected with these roles. Traditionally, sermon preparation concentrated mainly on words (focus) in order to retell a passage’s meaning with appropriate application.  However, more recently a revolution has occurred in biblical interpretation about how God encounters us in Scripture. He not only says words in messages but also does things (function) by those messages. Rhetorical studies of Scripture have shown how different genres move us to varying responses. Some are well known such as evangelistic, prophetic, pastoral and doctrinal.  To these I add: celebratory, liturgical (recognizing that ‘liturgy’ applies to any order of worship from highly formal to wildly informal), salvation history, and missional. Together, these eight complement each other in the five dimensions of the preacher’s ministry.

So, dear Stephen's festschrift gave me one last chance for this preaching vision to see the light of day before I ride off into the sunset.  Thank you for the opportunity Stephen!

 

Honouring a friend

When notable academic colleagues retire one special way of marking their contribution is to publish a festschrift (from German celebration and writing) in their honour.  Rev. Dr. Stephen Wright - a noted New Testament and Homiletics scholar - recently finished at Spurgeon's College after beginning there in 1998. He started as Director of the College of Preachers but was to continue as a vital leader of the Spurgeon's community. For over 25 years he has been such a wise, gentle, humble, gifted teacher, educator, pastor, author and friends to so many of us. So, a very worthy candidate for a festschrift.

When the editor asked me to contribute a chapter I wanted to say 'Yes'. I have contributed to others' celebration writing and since I was involved in Stephen's appointment I particularly would have liked to chip in a word. However, all my academic books had already been shipped out and familiar academic props were missing.  I felt academically bereft!  Therefore I declined to take part.

However, the Editor came back to me.  His second ask was insistent. Didn't I have special responsibility at Stephen's beginning?  Surely something could emerge!  Reluctantly, with mixed results, something did emerge and I'll post about it next. But the wonderful aspect of presenting any final publication like this is that, at its best, the whole exercise has been conducted in utmost secrecy.  When the presentation is eventually made on a public occasion, the book should be a total surprise. A shock of the best kind. 

Last week the presentation ceremony was scheduled at Spurgeon's College Chapel. It was too early for me to attend in person but fortunately it was streamed (and what a gift online service gives us)!  Though we were ready for the start at 10:30 am and the camera showed friends gathered in the chapel, Stephen was absent and blissfully unaware. He arrived some 10 minutes later and was utterly stunned .  By his wife and daughter, who had been involved in the planning, yet who had somewhat misled him about their commitments that morning! And by the group of friends and colleagues.  Beginning with lively worship and prayer we came to the moment when Stephen was handed his own festschrift.  You could see the genuine surprise and delight as he held it and as video tributes and written greetings followed.  It was a shock of the best kind.

What a great way to honour a deserving scholar. To top it all he was told that in the afternoon he would be at Lambeth Palace with the Archbishop who had written the book's foreword.  It's worthily called: Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant. 

Y = TRUTH

Right from the beginning of this short letter John links LOVE with TRUTH. Just look at the word's frequency. Whom I love in the truth - and not I only but also all who know the truth - because of the truth which lies in us and will be with us forever (vv1,2)   It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth. (v4). But it's only some who are walking in the truth. That deeply concerns him.

There are truths with a capital T and the biggest is who Jesus is, the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). Scripture reveals the extraordinary truth that God has revealed himself to us in flesh.  That Jesus is born in Bethlehem. He is God incarnates, identifying with us. Yet at the same time he is God's Son. 100% divine and 100% human. To sensible people this belief is nonsense! Ever since the church began sensible people have taught either he is more God than man or man that God.

For this new young church some have come with a particular teaching: 'Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh have gone out into the world' (v7) This church is clearly in danger of listening to false teaching. This Gnostic thinking with many variations likes behind several New Testament letters. It seem this particular teaching refused to accept that God who is spirit and utterly pure and good could be mixed up with the material, impure and evil world.  So, if Jesus is truly God it’s nonsense to claim that he was born in flesh and that he actually died. No, Jesus became God at his baptism and left the man before the crucifixion.  

There has always been controversy about who Jesus is. Always.  Someone came up to me at church a couple of weeks ago:  'We have a group of Christians who meet at work and we have this bloke who is a Christadelphian.  And don’t they have strange teaching about Jesus? ' Well, their approach is to say that because there is one God, Jesus is not divine with the Father. There's no Trinity. I happened to be preaching this last Sunday which to many in the world church is set apart as Trinity Sunday. After the Spirit has come at Pentecost the fullness of God's three persons is revealed. New disciples will be baptised in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Trinity Sunday always pushes us to think beyond human wisdom and ask for spiritual wisdom which is truth beyond reaston - transrational.  It's spiritual truth which God wants us to open our hearts and minds to in wondering faith that  accepts God's thoughts are not ours. 

One radio programme when the Archbishop talked with various people about Christianity involved the comedian John Cleese who expressed interest. . But then he said: 'What I don't understand is wh yJesus had to die!'  That's raw human wisdom declaring how something makes no sense. It is foolishness (1 Cor 2:13). It's only by spiritual wisdom which opens up to the possibility that Jesus truly is the Son of God  that the Cross begins to make spiritual sense.   

John writes to this church about being careful about who you have to teach and challenge you. It means keeping alert.  Don’t let minor byways distract you from the major truths of the gospel and Jesus as Lord, Son of the Father, with the Holy Spirt as Trinity is as major as they come.

X = TOUGH LOVE

It’s tough love. Tough love is the practice of being very strict with someone to help them correct their behaviour.  Jesus as Lord commands us to love in his ways. He commands us to walk together in love.

Nicky Gumbel, the inspiration behind the Alpha programme, has recently posted a couple of quotes on Facebook from Alice Cooper, the American rock singer. Almost as old as me (!) Cooper used to plaster his face with lurid black make-up. An old picture of him accompanies the quote: Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian is a tough call. That’s real rebellion.  Yes, real rebellion.

Doing stuff that Jesus calls us to do is tough There’s an act of compassion, someone who could really benefit from us giving them some time. We just don't feel like doing it. Jesus says: 'Do it for me.' There’s a commitment that I know Jesus would like but I don’t feel like doing it. Jesus says: 'Do it for me.' When my home group discussed keeping commitments recently (I mentioned this in a post) we saw the challenge between the practical commitments that are required in our daily lives - paying bills, keeping appointments, doing jobs and the voluntary commitments that Jesus requires.  Those commitments reveal our willingness to obey with tough love. Jesus love. Agape.

Local churches work by tough love - when their congregations make commitments to each other and their neighbours that Jesus requires, commands.  And I know it as an itinerant preacher.  When you visit a church for the first time, sadly, sometimes you can feel the tensions where people are working an organization rather than working at love. Sometimes it has almost seemed that aliens had come and sucked out life spirit from people and left soulless bodies.  

It's obvious that the formula for a spiritual strong church needs LOVE. X.  And in this letter John keenly links love with one other vital requirement. Y.  It's mentioned five times in the first four verses.....

X = LOVE

The first word in the formula X + Y = a spiritually strong church is so obvious, and it is especially a John, the apostle, word. There’s an old story (which means you have probably already heard it) of John preaching his last sermon.  He was so old, his voice was weak and he was frail. Because they so revered him the crowds squeezed in tight to hear this apostle who’d actually been with Jesus. |What would his last words be?  With a quavering voice he said: Little children love one another. Little children love one another. Little children love one another. And then again, and again, the same words. People became restless. Some said it was such a shame. Was it a sign of dementia?  Was this all he was going to say?  Some people understood. It really was the most important thing of all for them to hear. And some, in their shame, knew John was probing deeply about what mattered most about their own behaviour.  

You can hear John's love for these people  It says 'the chosen lady and her children' and it could be a family group whom he loves  v1.  Or it could be his way of speaking to a local church a sister church full of brothers and sisters . In fact, it’s suggested that the details are left vague so that in those  days of persecution disciples couldn’t be identified. But I think he knew their names and he loves them. He cannot wait to see them face-to-face v12. To belong to a group of people who love and care for each other is the greatest gift.

Love  is such a warm, popular yet elastic word. It extends over a wide spectrum from the superficial at its lowest end. Carol and I happen to love Lentil and Bacon soup which at the moment means we have a small store. And we say we love it.  We can say that with meaning about favourite food, football clubs, pop stars and the a heap of things. Moving along the spectrum love becomes heavier and more engaging.  We can fall in love - love of partners, family, friends, It can be highly emotional. Of course we can also fall out of love. But at its highest, and it really is the highest form of love, is Jesus love, Agape. That's the word in John 2.  It's never highly emotional. It cost Jesus everything to love us and it costs us everything to love him back.  We have to make him Lord and say in the power of the Spirit that we want to love other people like Jesus loves us.  It’s a commanded love, that needs our hearts, souls, minds and will.  John says it often: it’s not a new command but one we had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another and this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. (vv5,6).

It's a tough love. 

A church formula

Keeping commitments (to follow a recent theme) involves me preaching a couple of times in the next few weeks. Back at Bluntisham, still in awaiting a new minister, I am hooked into their current preaching series -‘Overlooked books of the Bible.’ My two dates coincide with John 2 and Jude. My records (not necessarily hyper-accurate you understand) suggest that I have never preached on John 2 though I have intensively focused on John 1.  Jude has only one outing.  That's in over 60 plus years of preaching. So, overlooked they certainly are!

I was reminded of the old green Baptist Hymn Book, published in 1954. My father as Baptist minister set his heart on making sure that none of the nearly 800 hymns were overlooked. As a teenager I got to know the hymn book – some golden oldies and new ones. Not new as in Kendricks, Gettys, Redmon, Hillsong etc...but new for the 50's.. In the tune book on the piano he began to write the dates against the days he chose particular hymns.  If he felt the tune was a barrier he’d find a another tune with the same metre. And some had to be introduced tune and all. He said he wanted to make sure we didn’t stay with the popular ones but sang ones we didn’t know. I guess some people might have been fed up. 'Look at the words carefully' he would say. ' We shouldn’t miss this one out.  It’s chosen because it says something that matters'.  

Now, with Scripture it’s different because big choices were taken as to which books were important for telling out God's story, but a similar principle applies. Look at the words carefully. We shouldn't miss this one out.  It's here because it says something important. So, what matters in John 2?   

Certainly something mattered to the apostle John when he wrote this.  He’s the elder and as he addresses this young church two issues really matter.  Which of course means they matter for any church, like ours. I think that together these two themes almost amount to a formula for a spiritually strong church.. X plus Y equals....

Keeping Commitments 3)

Our group meeting always ends in group prayer but I wanted every member to be able to share from the beginning. So I split our study session into two parts.  Part 1 asked members to name a commitment they have to keep and, as I mentioned two posts ago, I began with my foot exercises. Certainly no one else named that issue (though two group members have suffered in the past).  As we went round the room people particularly identified commitments to family, especially grandchildren. One highlighted their belonging to a church choir, another referred to their list of friends with whom to keep in contact. Someone spoke about their commitment to a weekly church outreach programme involving young families in the village. And yes, there was honest disclosure. Someone described how their desire to move from couch to 5K run was a failed commitment!

|We reflected on these and many other kinds of commitments and placed them in four categories.        

First - our vows to God  

Second - vows in marriage, to family, to friends 

Third - required practical commitments like paying bills, maintaining contracts, getting to work on time, projects keeping appointments.

Fourth - voluntary commitments - involvement with others offering help, showing compassion, mercy, which are extra to duties of daily life.

Part 2 reviewed some set questions about Hosea's marriage modelling God's broken relationship with Israel yet his enduring love, and with this in mind focused on the list above.  Because God's love for us calls for our commitment to him to be so serious that it affects every level of commitment.  As one group member said: 'It really challenges me to think that everything that we do matters to God - all commitments at every level! '.

As we prepared to pray together one person shared how they were particularly burdened with a decision about further leadership involvement in the church.  About how difficult it is to discern at the fourth level how much more we should do in busy lives. 

We always value time together. I know this challenge about keeping commitments has a sharper edge as I plan my diary ahead.