The Anonymous Tract

I'm all for evangelism, and reaching out with the gospel. The Lord Jesus requires this, and sent out his disciples to be disciple-makers. Any opportunity to share the good news of God's word about Jesus Christ should be taken. However, I do think there are right and wrong ways off going about it.

On Halloween night, we were out, and I popped home to grab some clothes before staying over at the in-laws. Lying on the mat was a tract, indeed none other than a Chick Publications comic tract. (Not that it's funny, but it is a cartoon comic style production). Someone had put it through the door and gone their merry way. Fair enough- they didn't get us in, us horrible pagan people, so they posted one through the door so that we wouldn't miss out on the message of Chick Publications "First Bite" about how a demon-inspired evil vampire is plotting to have his first bite of virgin flesh on Halloween night, but instead Faith converts him, so that he not only loses his sins but also his fangs!

Not really the best Halloween tract out there* but with some gospel message in it. My problem, though, is that their evangelism isn't really in line with the great commission of Matthew 28. The whole thing about making disciples and teaching them, in my mind, presupposes relationship and contact. Someone may be converted through reading this tract or an isolated Bible verse, but it's surely the exception. My gripe is that the tracting of Dundonald on Halloween night was indiscriminate and anonymous. There were no contact details to be found on the back page (not even in the box specifically for them). There wasn't another leaflet or card to say who had left the tract. Just a quick tract dropped and run. Is this evangelism?

Say I had been convicted and converted through reading the tract. How would I know where to go to find out more? How would the people behind the spreading of Chick tracts ensure that I come under their own brand of teaching and (hopefully) discipleship? That is why I'm not convinced by anonymous tracting, soothing the mission conscience by indiscriminate leaflet dropping.

Over the run-up to Christmas, we're planning a range of evangelism efforts in the parish. I'll be sayig more about these in the coming weeks. But one thing I'm determined to not do is anonymous fearful evangelism. As we go out, we'll be clear that we are from St Elizabeth's Church, and include contact details and leaflets about our fellowship and meetings. But even more important is the personal touch, the ongoing and growing relationships with people as we bump into them at work, in the shops, at the gym, or wherever we find people. We're called to make disciples, not leaflet drop.

*For the best tracts check out The Good Book Company

Book Review: Fern-seed and Elephants

CS Lewis is best known as the author of the Chronicles of Narnia, and as the Christian apologist author of Mere Christianity. However, his entire writing career notched up many smaller essays, addresses and sermons, some of which have been published in collections. One such collection goes under the title of Fern-seed and Elephants, taken from a scathing attack on the problems of modern Biblical scholarship, in which the scholars

'ask me to believe they can read between the lines of the old texts; the evidence is their obvious inability to read (in any sense worth discussing) the lines themselves. They claim to see fern-seed and can't see an elephant ten yards away in broad daylight.'

We'll return later to the conclusions from that particular address, but first we'll review the other essays in the collection. 'Membership', ahead of its time, decries the insistence that 'religion belongs to our private life', while private, solitary time is effectively denied by the wireless! How much more today, with broadband internet, mp3s, satellite and digital TV, and other modern technology! Lewis' point in the essay is that membership in a society or club is very different from membership in the church, in the body of Christ. In a club, all members are equal. and equal rights is key. In reality, though, membership in the church means that all are different, but together make up the body. The key difference is that

'we are summoned from the outset to combine as creatures with our Creator, as mortals with immortal, as redeemed sinners with sinless Redeemer.'

'Learning in War Time' was primarily addressed to students in Oxford during the Second World War, who were concerned with whether they should be studying in the midst of wartime. However, to ask that question is to miss the more pressing question than war:

'Is it right, or even psychologically possible, for creatures who are every moment advancing either to heaven or hell, to spend any fraction of the little time allowed them in this world on such comparative trivialities as literature or art, mathematics or biology. If human culture can stand up to that, it can stand up to anything.'

The solution for Lewis is that becoming a Christian doesn't mean that we stop doing the normal everyday things we did before, but rather that we offer them up to God, doing everything for his glory.

'Forgiveness' is a very short piece which was very challenging, in which Lewis admits that the forgiveness of sins is something that we affirm in the creeds, but which can be hard to believe. On God's part in forgiving sins, we find it difficult to believe for two reasons - we want to excuse our own sin rather than confess (with the problem that if wrongdoing did have mitigating circumstances, then it is not sin, and that God knows such circumstances better than we do, and so takes them into account anyway); and that we don't really believe that God will forgive our sins. When it comes to us forgiving the sin of others, it's another story. We accept our own excuses for sin too easily, but don't accept others' excuses easily enough. Forgiveness is defined by Lewis as 'killing every trace of resentment in your own heart - every wish to humiliate or hurt him or to pay him out.'

'Historicism' was an essay that I have to confess I didn't really 'get' - perhaps it was more relevant to the particular circumstances in which Lewis was writing, or for a particular audience. The main point appears to be that we can't claim to accept anyone's explaining historical events, because we can't fully know God's purpose, unless God reveals it. The only divinely sanctioned explanation of events is found in the Scriptures.

In 'The World's Last Night', Lewis examines the reality of Christ's return, and considers the question of how we would react if this was the world's last night. He hits a slight wobble when he gets sidetracked into discussing the claims that the end would come in the lifetime of the apostles, yet even through this hits on a useful point, that errors and ignorance make up the strongest proof that the New Testament is historically reliable. More positively, as he discusses the practical impossibility of predicting the time of Christ's return, he says that 'precisely because we cannot predict the moment, we must be ready at all moments.' Not that this should lead to perpetual fear, but perpetual remembering - is this an activity I want to be doing as Jesus returns? The return will bring judgement- which should be stripped of it's inherent modern association with punishment. Rather, judgement is the verdict: on what each of us is. Then punishment or reward will follow, with no errors made.

'Religion and Rocketry' is an interesting theological discussion concerning life on other planets, and how Christ would relate to them. Would they also have fallen? Would Jesus' death on the cross satisfy for them too? How would we relate to those other creatures and species?

'The Efficacy of Prayer' is another short article which begins by asking if prayer works, but is quickly turned around, because prayer and God cannot be subjected to laboratory experiments. Prayer is not something to be used for our benefit, to work for us; rather it is a relationship and a revelation of who God is, not what we can get. Indeed, answered prayer is not a sign of favourites with God, after all, the Lord Jesus' prayer in the Garden was refused, the cup was not taken away, and he went to the cross.

And so we return to 'Fern-seed and Elephants'. Speaking to ordinands who seemed to disbelieve the Bible but keep the public front of intellectual assent, Lewis is highly critical of this unbelief and sham. His final paragraph is worth repeating in full:

Such are the reactions of one bleating layman to Modern Theology. It is right that you hear them. You will not perhaps hear them very often again. Your parishioners will not often speak to you quite so frankly. Once the layman was anxious to hide the fact that he believed so much less than the vicar: he now tends to hide the fact that he believes so much more. Missionary to the priests of one's own church is an embarrassing role; though I have a horrid feeling that if such mission work is not soon undertaken the future history of the Church of England is likely to be short.

An excellent and thoughtful series of articles, although with some minor things I would disagree with. All in all, Lewis is worth reading, and especially in his less well known shorter collected writings.

Changing Gears

As I've been driving recently, I've come to realise that I don't drive the way I used to.

Ten years ago, I had just passed my test, and the world was my oyster in my Renault Clio. Mum and dad didn't drive, so now we had the opportunity to go and see all those places I had only ever heard of. (Indeed that may still be the reason why I love driving so much - the sense of adventure and freedom, seeing new places and finding new roads). My driving philosophy was to get there as quickly as possible, with no delays or holding back. For that first year, under the experimental conditions of the 'R' Driver (Restricted Driver limited to 45 miles per hour for the first year after passing the driving test in Northern Ireland), I would still try to push the car on.

Both then and after having graduated to full speed, the boundaries would be stretched. The old 'ten percent plus two' margin of error for police speed cameras was exploited to the full, and then some. Full speed ahead.

Then I had my accident. Into the back of a car at a green traffic light. A wee fright, but no major damage to either car, and no injury claims. So over time my philosophy returned. Full speed ahead. Try to set records for regular journeys, always beating my personal best, so long as there weren't any stupid or old drivers on the road in my way.

But now, almost imperceptibly over time, my driving style has changed. There wasn't any conscious decision on my part to drive slower; but now I rarely exceed 60 on dual carriageways and motorways. I'm happy to observe speed limits, especially the 30 if there's a speed demon behind wanting to go quicker. I'm more careful; less willing to take risks I previously would have jumped at.

Have I turned into an old man in my 29th year? Or am I coming to realise that it's not worth speeding to an early eternity? Perhaps being married has calmed me down, my life is more settled now, and I'm more aware of the interconnectedness of my existence- what I do has consequences for those around me, not least my wife.

The unneccesary speed has gone, and you'll likely overtake me on the road. Now to work on my driving anger at the stupidity of other drivers, who disobey the rules of the road (e.g. Speed limits, driving in bus lanes, parking on urban clear ways, sitting on yellow boxes, failing to move at green lights, being in the wrong lane and holding up traffic rather than following through the consequences in the lane you're in, hogging the outside lane on motorways at 50mph, driving in the middle lane of the new three-lane motorways rather than the inside lane, not using indicator lights to warn us where you're going etc). Quite a list, which raises my righteous (?) anger! Lots to be working on. Just don't get annoyed at me if I'm not fast enough for you now!

The Grasshopper

I've been going through some photos from the summer that hadn't been uploaded, and found this grasshopper from the grounds of the Bishop's Palace at Downhill, County Londonderry. We spotted him during a visit when we were on the north coast for New Horizon.

October Review

This is now the 35th posting in October, and the 390th post of 2009. So what has happened on the blog in October

My preaching included a visit to Ballyward and Rathfriland, with sermons from Isaiah 55, which was subsequently remixed (audio). There was also Job's turmoil from Job 3 (audio), Remembering James the Brother of our Lord from Mark 3, and Jesus the Life-Giver from John 5. We also had a blog-through Bible study of Jonah, see total Jonah for the full series.

My reading was bitty this month, with portions of books being read for CME (so-called Potty Training), Select Vestry, and plugging away at various books which reside in the car, at the lunch table, beside the bed and in the study. In fact, I almost thought I wasn't going to finish any books in October, but managed to finish and review Preach The Word. There were also quotations from Don Carson, CS Lewis, and David Jackman.

What's on your iPod petered out due to busyness, but not before we covered Maria May and Men and Monsters.

We also thought about Bodies in New York.

Links will be added in at a later date, but you can go exploring now!

Halloween Alt

It's the day of darkness, All Hallow's Eve, Hallowe'en. The whole country seems to go mad for fireworks, bangers, dressing up and trick-or-treating. So what can the Church do in the midst of all this? Do we lie down and accept the widespread wickedness?

Rather than our children and young people missing out on parties and fun, many churches organise a Halloween alternative. This morning we had our Bright Lights Party (although I missed it as I'm on holidays). Party games, party food, crafts and a reminder that we don't have to fear the darkness or the devil, because Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12).

This afternoon there was some street evangelism, distributing UCB Bags of Hope with a gospel outline, a tract, and also some chocolate!

What other ideas do you have for Christian Halloween alternatives?

Book Review: Preach The Word

Kent Hughes has enjoyed an immensely faithful and fruitful ministry, and so on the occasion of his retirement from College Church in Wheaton Illinois, an international group of scholars and pastor-teachers combined to author a book in Kent's honour. Appropriately, given Kent's lifelong commitment to expository preaching, the essays are centred on the work of expository preaching of the Scriptures.

There are simply too many great parts of the book to include them all in this brief review. Suffice to say that the authors share the observation that for many, the sermon is not how it should be. Too often, the Bible is read but not explained, or used as a jumping-off point for the speaker's opinions and ideas. Preach The Word is a stirring call to follow the example of Kent Hughes, return to the Bible, and to do what it says on the tin: preach the word!

The first section is aimed to help the preacher in the basic skills of preparing and preaching. Material covered includes preaching Old Testament narratives, literature as a genre, right and wrong interpretations, among others. Section 2 demonstrates preaching through Paul's example, as well as Richard Baxter and Charles Simeon. Section 3 deals with the contemporary challenges and aims, with an excellent chapter from Don Carson, and helpful chapters from Phillip Jensen and Philip Ryken. The book closes with a section on training the next generation of gospel workers, thinking through the whole-seminary effort to raise a preacher rather than it being left to a homiletics lecturer, and schemes such as apprenticeships and preaching conferences where iron sharpens iron.

If you're in a Bible teaching ministry, then this book will be extremely helpful. I've purposely not provided any quotes in this review as there are a number of issues I want to think more about before blogging in the near future. I obtained this book as my ordination gift from my parish, and it will be read and re-read over the coming years. It would be an ideal gift for a young pastor or someone considering the call. Buy it and share it, as we earnestly seek to Preach The Word!

CS Lewis on Democracy

In light of the recent expenses scandals, both at Westminster and Stormont, I came across this quotation from CS Lewis in an essay called 'Membership', included in the volume Fern-seed and Elephants.

I believe in political equality. But there are two opposite reasons for being a democrat. You may think all men so good that they deserve a share in the government of the commonwealth, and so wise that the commonwealth needs their advice. That is, in my opinion, the false, romantic doctrine of democracy. On the other hand, you may believe fallen men to be so wicked that not one of them can be trusted with any irresponsible power over his fellows. That I believe to be the true ground of democracy.

On his view, we should expect that MPs, MLAs and politicians are as wicked as the rest of us, and need to be carefully monitored.

Can You Spam God?

I've just noticed that a group of atheists and others are planning for a co-ordinated minute of prayer on Sunday 8th November, in an attempt to overwhelm God with their useless requests in a move akin to an internet attack on a website (a DDOS - Distributed Denial of Service).

From their Facebook Event page:

As you may already be aware, recently the Atheist Founation of Australia and the Global Atheist Convention websites were the target of a significant DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack, which began on Monday 19 October.

This is a call to all non-believers and advocates for freedom of speech to join us in a global co-ordinated minute of prayer with the aim of inundating God (in this context, the Christian god, God, as distinct from the Greek god, Zeus, the Egyptian god, Ra etc etc) with so many useless prayers that it causes his divineness to go offline as as result of our own DDOS ('Divine' Denial of Service).

The prayer minute will be at exactly 8pm (Eastern Standard Time) and 9am (Greenwich Mean Time) on Sunday 8 November 2009.

The prayer can be about anything you want (but say it as frequently as possible in the minute we have assigned to ensure DDOS is achieved) or to whomever god you want. Its mostly directed at the Christian god so as to ensure we don't get too many return to senders from other gods.

Isn't it heartening to hear atheists urging people to pray to God, even for silly reasons? Who knows, perhaps God will answer their prayers in ways they don't expect. One thing is for sure, they cannon inundate the Living God whose thoughts are not our thoughts and whose ways are higher than our ways. (Isaiah 55)

Some writing on the wall of the event have even suggested getting believers to join in as there's more hope of overwhelming God with prayer - but God is not some internet server that can be threatened by mere mortals, or overwhelmed by thoughts. He is the Alpha and the Omega, he knows the end from the beginning, and knows each of the hairs of their heads as well as their thoughts, so how could a worldwide minute of prayer stop him?

To the atheists, do keep praying!

A Clarification

I just wanted to put on the record that I won't be jumping ship and signing up to the Roman Catholic Church under the Pope's new free transfer scheme. And this not even though the book we're reading in Potty Training this year is Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI. That's all for now.

Sermon Audio: Isaiah 55

Here's my most recent sermon audio, the remixed and enlarged The Great Invitation from Sunday morning in St Elizabeth's.

McFlurry's McLinks (9)

It's been over a month since the last set of links in the McFlurry's McLinks format, so here goes. Here are some of the interesting things I've recently read from other blogs and sites:

The Reformed Workaholic reflects on a recent bomb scare in Belfast.

I'm increasingly enjoying Stuff Christians Like. Check out his posts on Sermon Body Language (which do you do?), Coming to Church Late, and the Booty, God Booty remix.

On the art of preaching, Kevin De Young warns against being too predictable with application always at the end, while Unashamed Workman highlights Ligon Duncan's thoughts on sermon prep time, while Dave Bish asks how you would summarise the Old Testament in eight sessions.

Straight Up asks if we are making disciples or making disciple-makers. Dave Bish talks about ice cream evangelism. Bishop Alan shares an imagined child's experience of church.

Next month we'll be having a special service for those who have been recently bereaved, which made Al Mohler's observations of a liberal Unitarian pastor's passing interesting - life after death or love after death?

Irish Calvinist writes on how pocket New Testaments aren't helpful. Kevin De Young is worried about Rob Bell's theology. Al Mohler reflects on Jack Spong's refusal to debate homosexuality any more, while the Lutherans get confused on their bound consciences. The Simple Pastor reviews a book on Homosexuality and the Bible.

I liked this piece on peace from shallowfrozenwater, and also his letter to his 16 year old self.

Churches don't normally celebrate Hallowe'en, what with it being satanic and all that. Some (like ours) organise an alternative to Hallowe'en, celebrating Jesus as the light of the world, but one church in America is having a bonfire of satanic material - namely Bibles, and books by (among others) John Piper and Mark Driskol (sic). See reports by Church Mouse and Erik Raymond.

And, as always, we finish our broadcast with a funny video. With November just around the corner, and just 58 days to Christmas, here's Michael McIntyre's take on it all:

Cobweb Church

Innisrush Parish Church, near Tamlaght O'Crilly.

Jesus Gives Life

As we work through John's Gospel at SET (St Elizabeth's Teens), the Sunday night youth group, we've come to chapter five. We're introduced to a sad character. A man who has been paralyzed for thirty eight years. That's longer than any of us have lived on earth, although some are closer to it than others! The man lies near a pool in the city of Jerusalem, with lots of other sick people, because they expect a miracle to happen - possibly superstitious - that when bubbles appear in the water then an angel is stirring the water and the first one in will be cured.

Jesus comes along, and asks the man what seems to be a silly question: 'Do you want to be healed?' Well of course he does, after all, he's paralyzed, isn't he? But that's not his answer. He doesn't say yes - instead he gives an answer born of self-pity: 'Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.' I would be healed if I had someone who could help me...

Jesus asks us the same question. Do you want to be healed, forgiven, changed, cleansed? It seems that the man was comfortable as he was, he didn't really want to change. What about us? When Jesus asks the question do we answer yes, or do we cling to what we know? We are paralyzed by our sin, not really living. Jesus rightly urges us to count the cost before making a commitment.

So what does Jesus do next? * Jesus doesn't help the man into the pool when the bubbles come, he just says the word, and the man is healed: 'Get up, take up your bed, and walk.' Jesus' word has power, he just has to say the word and the man's legs work again. Even more interesting is the word that's used: Get up is the same word to rise up, a resurrection word that is used of Lazarus being raised from the dead, and later used of Jesus being raised up. The paralyzed man is having a mini-resurrection, being raised to new life.

The man hasn't walked for thirty-eight years, and he's able to walk away. You'd think everyone would be tremendously happy. But that's not how it is. Some people are cross, because the man is breaking the Sabbath laws by carrying his bed. No joy, just condemnation. The man's response is great: 'The man who healed me, that man said to me, "Take up your bed and walk".' Implication: If he's powerful enough to heal me, then he can jolly well tell me what to do! The Jews don't like it one bit and set out to find out who it was who did this.

Jesus later encounters the man again and warns him not to sin again, in case something worse happens to him. While it's not always appropriate to claim that suffering is a result of personal sin (see John 9), sometimes it is the case. The threat of something worse evokes the threat of eternal punishment in the judgement.

The Jews are hopping mad by now, because Jesus is claiming to be equal to God, by calling God his father. So Jesus talks to them, and says that just like a son goes into the family occupation, carefully watching and learning from his father in an apprenticeship (e.g. carpentry or goldsmith etc), so he does what he sees the Father doing. In John 5 there are two particular things that the Father does which Jesus also does: Gives life (as seen in the healing), and exercises judgement.

21For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 22 The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. (John 5:21-23)

What Jesus says next pulls these two things together, but before we come to it, I want to tell you about a village I used to live in. Newtownstewart is a small village halfway between Omagh and Strabane. At one time, if you were going from Omagh to Strabane, you had to pass through the village of Newtownstewart. There was no way around it. It's a wee place, twisty corners, narrow roads, pedestrians, traffic. It was a nightmare to get through and took ages and ages. But just as I moved there, they opened a new by-pass. Now, if you're going from Omagh to Strabane, you don't have to get stuck in Newtownstewart. You can speed along the main road, and miss the problem of the village.

Each of us are in the throes of death. We will all some day die. There is no escape. And death leads to judgement, it's what happens: we die and we are judged. And therein lies our problem. We've all done bad things, wrong things, and the outcome of the judgement will be punishment. But Jesus, in John 5:24, says that we can avoid the judgement:

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.(John 5:24)

We can bypass judgement by hearing Jesus' words and believing in him, and we immediately pass from death to life! It's the difference between pulling the 'Go to Jail, Go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect £200' card in Monopoly and pulling the 'Advance to Go' card in the Chance pile.

The promise of life has been made - Jesus is the one who will judge, and the one who can give life. How can we be sure of it?

In a court case, there are witnesses brought to verify that what is being said is the truth. They testify to what they know. Jesus presents four witnesses to verify what he is saying (even though he doesn't need any witnesses as he always speaks truth):

1. John the Baptist came before Jesus, to prepare the way for him, and he has borne witness to the truth.

2. God the Father, because the very works that Jesus is doing are the things the Father desires, thus showing that the Father is pleased with Jesus, and that the Father sent Jesus into the world.

3. The Scriptures, because the Jews were searching the Scriptures to find life, but all the while they were missing the whole point of them. Yes, the Scriptures point to the life giver, to Jesus, but the Jews refused to come to Jesus to have life, depending instead on their interpretations and law-keeping for their goodness.

4. Moses himself testifies to Jesus. You see, Moses was the giver of the Law, the whole point of the argument being the breaking of the Sabbath. But Jesus says that it is the very Moses on whom they pin their hopes who accuses them, because Moses wrote about Jesus, and points to Jesus.

The Jews that day had no excuse for not believing Jesus - the evidence was right before they eyes, the witnesses were pointing to the truth that Jesus is the judge, and Jesus is the Life-Giver. What excuse will we have if we come before Jesus the Judge? We've been to SET and heard the Gospel many times, we've heard how Jesus is the rescuer who saves us from the penalty our sins deserve. We've probably all got Bibles in our houses, and we've been in RE / RS and Assemblies in School, so have no excuse at all for not believing.

Jesus shows his power by healing the man with his word. Jesus is God, the Son of God. Jesus is the judge, but provides the way of escaping judgement by giving life. At the end of the day you have a simple choice. Life or judgement? It's up to you...

A form of this talk was given at SET in St Elizabeth's Halls on Sunday 25th October 2009.

* One of the joys of teaching the Bible to young people who have never heard it before is that you get refreshingly honest answers based on what they think, not what the answer should be. So some of the guys thought that Jesus would give the man a helping hand into the pool. One guy got it right!

The Great Invitation - Remixed

Two Sundays ago, I was preaching in St John's Church, Rathfriland. The sermon was on Isaiah 55, the great invitation. This morning, I had another go at preaching the passage, as it was the chosen reading for Bible Sunday in the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), but with a bit more added in, as Dundonald parishioners are used to a longer sermon.

This morning I was having a final look over it (as I normally do on a Sunday morning), when I finally understood how the passage hangs together, and every bit together. You see, when I preached it before, I couldn't get my head around verses 3 to 5:

3Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
4 Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.

It finally came to me that the invitation being extended is for all people, not just the people of Israel, and that the invitation is through the kingly Messiah, the David figure who is Jesus. As the great invitation is sounded out, it's not just for Israel, but that we are seeing the evangelisation of Gentiles, in line with the original invitation to Abram (Abraham), in whom all nations would be blessed.

Therefore, as we gathered this morning, we are in part the fulfillment of this promise, as the Northern Irish / Irish / British would be one of the nations unknown when God made this promise through Isaiah. We have been drawn to worship the one true God through his David - king Jesus.

But that means that we also must go and tell, and extend the invitation to others as well - to share in the mercy and grace offered by the Lord God, to find soul satisfaction, to join in the party. The good news must not stop with us, but must be shared with neighbours, friends, strangers and sojourners.

What great news, as God calls his people to himself from every people and language and nation and tongue!

Remembering James

It can't have been easy being James, the brother of our Lord. Can you imagine being the younger brother of Jesus? He never did anything wrong, so you couldn't blame Jesus for something being smashed or for starting a fight. There was something different about Jesus.

So years later, when Jesus begins his teaching and healing ministry, the family want to step in and stop him. Crowds were gathering, so many people, in fact, that Jesus could not even eat. Mary and James and the other brothers and sisters want to seize him and bring him home, because they were saying 'He his out of his mind.' Jesus has gone mad after all this time! Were they embarrassed, or upset, or troubled for their son and older brother?

When they get to where Jesus is, though, his family can't get to him. The house is bunged, full of people hanging on Jesus' every word. They send a message in saying that his mother and brothers and sisters are here. Are they trying to claim a special privilege for blood relatives? Do they have a special claim on him? Do they think they can win him over by reminding him of home and family?

Whatever they thought they were doing, Jesus' reply must have stung. 'Who are my mother and my brothers?... Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.' (Mark 3:33-35)

Jesus is saying that membership of his family doesn't depend on natural descent, but on obedience to the Father.

Fast forward to the passage appointed to be read as the Epistle, in Acts 15. The very same James who was shunned is now one of the leaders of the Jerusalem church. The same question is at stake: what makes someone a member of the family of God? There was an issue over Gentile believers - did they have to become Jews first, observe the law and be circumcised, or was it on the basis of faith? James is the reconciler: 'We should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God.' (Acts 15:19) Or as Jesus said: Whoever does the will of God is part of the family.

What was it brought the change in James, the brother of our Lord?

Christ... was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.' (1 Corinthians 15:4-7)

Jesus appears to James, and James sees him for who he really is - not a mad older brother who needs rescuing and protected, but the Son of God, the Risen Lord Jesus, the Saviour. James changes from being a blood brother to being a faith brother, in God's family, which is more important than family ties.

James' journey reminds me of the famous CS Lewis quote from Mere Christianity:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

Jesus is not mad, or bad, but he is the Son of God. James realises this, and it brings the great change within him.

Whoever does the will of God is Jesus' brother and sister and mother. Are you part of the family today?

This sermon was preached at the midweek Holy Communion in St Peter's Church, Antrim Road, Belfast on Wednesday 21st October, celebrating the transferred feast of St James, the Brother of our Lord, which is today, 23rd October.

Stop Giving!

Have you ever heard the command to stop giving in church? Have you ever heard the minister or pastor or elders say, we've got enough now, you don't need to bring any more? Probably not! Yet as Israel camped in the wilderness of Sin, at the foot of Mount Sinai, having escaped from Egypt, that was precisely the command of Moses.

Moses, you may recall, went up to meet with God and was given the Ten Commandments, the Law and all those things. As well, he was given the plans for the Tabernacle, the tent of meeting, the visible sign of God's presence in the midst of his people as they journey towards the Promised Land. Everything is to be made according to this pattern, and if you're not crafty, as I'm not (at least in the making things craft sense), then the descriptions of curtains and poles and altars and poles and cherubim and lampstands and rings and hangings and hooks and pegs and (my personal favourite) calyxes.

To make all these things (an early church building project, if you will), there was a need for gold and linen, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, acacia wood, and many other materials. So an appeal was established - a Gift Day of sorts:

Moses said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, "This is the thing that the LORD has commanded. Take from among you a contribution to the LORD. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the LORD's contribution: gold, silver and bronze; blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; goats' hair, tanned rams' skins, and goatskins; acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, and onyx stones and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece. (Exodus 35:4-9)

Quite a list of different things that were needed. Yet within a few verses, people are coming with their freewill offering, bringing the needed materials to Bezalel and Oholiab, the skilled craftsmen, such that eventually, they have to tell Moses:

The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the LORD has commanded us to do. So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp, "Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary." (Exodus 36:5-6)

The people who had experienced the salvation of God, the liberation from slavery in Egypt had their hearts opened to respond in grateful thanksgiving. Much better than their giving gold earrings to make the sinful golden calf idol a few chapters before. So how do we reach the same grateful giving? Can we imagine a time when for a specific project, we have to issue a plea to stop giving?

No Rector...

One of the joys of being a Curate Assistant (among others) is the ability to say, "You'll have to talk to the Rector about that." The buck ultimately doesn't stop with me, and Tim is the one who is in charge within the parish. Overall strategy, visits, preaching schedules, emergencies, you name it, I'll pass it up the chain.

However, there are a few weeks in the year when things aren't so simple. Rector goes off on holiday and suddenly you're the one holding the fort. Normal work (visits, sermon prep, anything else needing done) is added to with the special visits needing done (homes, hospitals, nursing homes), emergency calls (the dying, funerals) and sorting the notice sheets for Sunday.

We're currently in one of those weeks, and things are hotting up. Thankfully I'm all set for this evening's Fellowship Group Bible study, but there's still Sunday's sermon to work on and a few more visits to squeeze in, as well as 'Potty Training' tomorrow night.

God is good, all the time. Now what's next on the list?

Weekending

No updates over the weekend, as we had our Church Weekend down in the Glenada Centre in Newcastle. A great weekend, which will long be remembered. Our speaker was Shaun Atkins, Chaplain of The Bedford School, who took us through 1 Samuel 17, looking at David, Goliath and Christ.

Poor exegesis and application in Sunday Schools and sermons normally places the reader as David, facing your giants, and knowing that you'll overcome them through five smooth stones (which, depending on the preacher's ingenuity, will be faith, Bible reading, prayer, church attendance and whatever...). If the Old Testament (indeed the whole of Scripture) is about Jesus - not us - then we shouldn't be cast as David; we're more likely among the Israelite army cowering afraid.

David is a type of Jesus, pointing forward to the work of Christ in taking on the enemy of God's people - our great enemy, death. Jesus has won the great victory, through the unexpected success of the cross. We can then share in the victory of our great king, the Lord's anointed chosen ruler.

The weekend gave us great teaching, and a good re-introduction to 1 Samuel, but there was much more than that. The value of the weekend is the time spent with brothers and sisters in the church family. Time to relax and chat over rivers of tea and coffee and a mountain of buns and cakes. Best of all may have been the talent show on the Saturday evening, with music, quiz, comedy and a special appearance of Mr Stretchy! We'll never look at some people in the same way again!!!

So a deferred day off tomorrow after a busy weekend as I was in full techy mode on recordings and PowerPoint duty. The mp3s from the four main sessions will be available online sometime later this week. And so to bed...

Hebrews Healthy Eating

We're all aware of the need for healthy eating, and the recommendations to have five a day of fruit and veg, and things like that. With some diet plans you can go further, and eat as much green salad as you want each day, as it's a good filler and good for you. Lettuce aplenty. As we read through the letter to the Hebrews, we find something similar. Not lettuce aplenty, but 'let us' aplenty.

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (10:22)

Let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. (13:15)

Let us hold fast our confession (4:14, 10:23)

Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works (10:24)

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (4:16)

Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire (12:28-29)


Quite a list, and this isn't even all of them! This lunchtime, as part of the 40 days of prayer in Down and Dromore diocese, I'll be leading the midday prayer meeting in Holywood Parish Church on these verses, using them as inspiration and motivation to pray in confession, in praise, for Christians in difficult situations, for the church, and for those in need. Twenty-four hours a day for these forty days, someone somewhere in praying in the diocese. Will you join them?