Jesus: Life in 3-D
Posted by: pressgang on: December 19, 2009
I saw the film ‘Avatar’ recently, a film shot with a new kind of camera in 3-D. I’d heard a lot about how amazing it was, how it would change my view of all other films forever and how the CGI was so good you found it hard to believe it wasn’t real. I put on those big NHS-style specs in the cinema wondering what it would look like and how it would be, and whether like a lot of hyped-up things it wouldn’t deliver. But it did. It was incredible. I was blown away by it. It was an incredible film, and the story itself has a lot of subliminal messages – personal, theological and political, which I will write about soon.
But having seen this film in 3-D which such amazing CGI, having my eyes opened to a different way of seeing a film and watching a film which took the concept of filmaking to another plane is such a compelling way, has changed my view of all other films like it which have gone before. It makes the Matrix, in its CGI anyway, look dated – which is quite an achievement given how radical it was for its time and how much it pushed the boundaries in its own right at the time. The Matrix is still one of my all-time top films, but now I wonder how good it could have been if it had been made with this technology, in this way. I start to imagine what a Superman film might look like with this technology.
It doesn’t matter if I take the 3-D glasses off, I can’t deny the experience I’ve had, what I’ve seen and what might be possible anymore. I have seen it and experienced it, it is a reality for me now.The bottom line is now that this has become the bar by which all future films of this nature will be judged. I have what is called ‘The Curse of Knowledge’ now, in that all other films of this type will be compared to this one.
I could see this film in 2-D and although the content of the film would be the same, I wouldn’t have seen the whole picture. I would have missed something. Something would have been incomplete about it – and that is easier to say now I’ve see it in 3-D.
My eyes have been opened to see what is possible in film, and what could be possible in the future. It makes what has past seem old and dated – not bad, but dated.
My eyes have been opened to a new reality, a new story.
As I thought about this I couldn’t help but think about how knowing Jesus and following Him has done the same thing for my life. What God has done in my life and how He has changed my life are undeniable, and the more I choose to orientate my life around Him the more I see of Him and the more He can do. And the more I see of Him, the more I experience Him, the harder it is to go back.
Even if I screw up and ignore Him. I can’t get away from the truth that He is real.
Even if I’m so angry with Him I want to reject Him completely, I can’t. Sometimes in fact I get angry that I can’t deny Him, because I know He is real.
I know what the reality of our story on earth is all about, what life itself is all about, and I can’t ignore it. Like taking off the 3-D glasses, even if I do I can’t deny what I have seen and experienced, I can’t deny the reality. I can’t deny what has happened and what might be possible anymore. I have seen it. I have felt it. I have experienced it.
Before I knew Jesus, I could keep going on with my life in 2-D, and experience life and enjoy it and go through the same experiences and be none the wiser. It might still be fun, it might still be good and fulfilling, it would have the same problems. But having seen life in 3-D, seen it in its proper context, seen the reality of God, then I can’t go back. The other life seems boring and incomplete in comparison. It doesn’t square up to the reality I have seen and experienced through God, and I can’t go back to it or deny it, because I have seen it and experienced it.
Even in my lowest and darkest times, I cannot ignore that reality. I cannot ignore the truth. Like Avatar has changed my view of film forever, meeting God and experiencing relationship and life with Him, meeting with Him, has transformed my idea of what life is about, about the reality of our world, about what is important, about everything.
No matter how much I try and ignore and deny it, I can’t go back. Its there.
You can keep on living your life in 2-D if you want. It may be enjoyable, it may be fulfilling and happy, and you will have good and bad times. But I can tell you, unless you have truly experienced God and understood who He is – beyond religion, beyond tradition, beyond even the church, bigger than anything you can imagine and loving and gracious in ways that you can’t even explain – then you won’t have seen the complete picture.
You won’t have seen what’s possible. You won’t have seen everything in its proper context. You won’t have understood reality at its deepest and truest level.
Trust me, its worth a look.
Getting published…my next step
Posted by: pressgang on: December 10, 2009
I have just had my previous blog post about advent published on Christine Sine’s blog, ‘Godspace‘. As I mentioned before they are currently running a series of blog post by authors from all over the world on the theme of advent and their own reflections on it.
I sent mine in – in vain hope rather than expectation, it must be said – but they liked it and have posted it here if you want to have a look.
It doesn’t matter if you already read it here, its always good to go back and reflect again on something for a second time, and above all there are a lot of other blog posts on the same theme on this site which I know will really bless you.
This is an exciting development for me in terms of my own journey of writing, and its great to have so many people supporting me. Its a privilege to be able to share my thoughts with you and to get posted on a blog with a bigger audience is a real blessing, and very humbling.
I do feel a calling to write and teach and this is just one more step along that journey. I hope you will stay with me for the ride.
Advent: Finding the Christ in Christmas
Posted by: pressgang on: December 6, 2009
At church today our pastor was talking about the season of advent, leading up to Christmas, and asked us what we were most looking forward to or expecting this advent season.
I couldn’t really think.
All that came to my mind when it came to Christmas was presents, seeing family, parties and the busyness. I mean, of course I knew Christmas was about Jesus, but it was almost like that was a given. Then our pastor said that he was thinking about
Emmanuel, God with us.
And I paused.
I realized that my first instinct when I thought had Christmas wasn’t of God, wasn’t of the coming of Jesus or the meaning of His coming.
It wasn’t anything to do with
God. Or Jesus
I had let myself get so sucked into secular idea of Christmas -
presents, decorations, wrapping, parties, family, cheesy songs that you hear every year
- and worrying about what I’m doing on what day that the real heart of Christmas, the reason why we celebrate, had completely slipped my mind.
I mean, I knew that Christmas wasn’t about the secular things, but about Jesus, but it was almost like I was so in the routine of doing the same things every advent/Christmas season – even in a church context, that the importance, significance and meaning of it had got drummed out of me by life – almost without me knowing it, or even desiring it.
You see this year I’ve been a bit grumpy when it comes to decorations, parties and cheesy music (there’s only so many times you can hear ‘Simply having a wonderful Christmas time’ before wanting to break the radio), because I’ve felt like the real meaning has been lost to people – when people start making cards deliberately without nativity or Christmas (in the proper sense) themes because they don’t want to offend non-Christians at Christmas (now there’s a paradox and irony if ever I saw one) and people rarely if ever mention Jesus when talking about Christmas it’s easy to get dissolusioned with the whole thing.
I sometimes wish that we dumped the tinsel, the tree and the presents.
I sometimes wish that instead we just focussed on reflecting on and celebrating (I mean really celebrating, not just singing songs, but eating and drinking and partying, with a measure of self-control anyway) the arrival of Jesus, and the love and grace of God in giving us Jesus.
I want to say to people who get offended by Christmas cards with Christian messages or pictures – though of course I shouldn’t and I don’t – not to bother with Christmas, or at least don’t call it Christmas if you do give gifts and cards – because its clearly not anything to do with what they believe in.
I want to tell people, to frank, that its a Christian festival (though the date may come from pagan festivals) or celebration, and the point is that its about Jesus – that’s why its called ‘Christmas’.
To tell them that there is a reason the word ‘Christ’ is in the name of the season (next thing they’ll try to get rid of that…). I mean Christians don’t try to stop other people celebrating their religious festivals or interfere with them, so why should they infringe on ours?
What I’m saying is not that I would actually ever say this, but that I’d gotten so sick of people distracting from what Christmas is really about – Christ – and manipulating it to suit themselves and disrespecting its meaning, that in my heart I had just given up.
Christmas has become so about all the other things that I’d almost forgotten or given up on its true meaning.
I’d lost the ‘Christ’ in Christmas.
Now I’m not going to have a go at those of other religions or who don’t follow Christ about Christmas as I talked about, of course not.That’s not the way of Jesus.
But what I can and want to do is at least reclaim the real meaning in my own life, in my own heart.
I don’t have to make a big deal out of it or be judgemental or sit on my high horse about it, or get religious and legalistic.
I’m not asking anyone to agree with me or believe what I believe.
However, I will act and see Christmas differently, and when asked, explain to people that to me Christmas is about more than what everyone else thinks, that to me its a sacred and special time. That its not just an excuse to eat and celebrate and give gifts, its a time to remember a celebrate one of the biggest moments in the history of all time, which has great meaning for me.
That there is significance in the
‘Christ’
in the word Christmas.
Because of the secularisation of Christmas, the season of advent has in some ways become more important than Christmas Day to me now. Because although we have advent calenders, it is largely untouched by consumerism.
People haven’t taken the idea of advent and put other things under the title ‘advent’ like they have with Christmas. Of course there is a secular kind of advent in the build up to Christmas, with parties, buying presents and advertising on TV about Christmas, but advent itself hasn’t been taken over.
Over time advent has come to create a time and space to think about the real meaning and significance of Christmas, to prepare my heart to hear and respond again to the message of Christmas and its significance.
Its come to be a time when I’ve really discovered again the reason for the Christ in Christmas. So when Christmas Day comes round again I will be celebrating something real, something big and important, not just celebrating for the sake of it.
It will engage with my heart much more because of this season of advent and because of how I’ve been reflecting on what the coming of Jesus really means, both for me and for all of us.
I hope that you can too.
And if you’re not a believer, in the build up to Christmas I would encourage you to think about where this story comes from, why we celebrate.
To question whether there’s something bigger going on, something more to Christmas than just presents, dinner and parties.
To ask yourself why we have the ‘Christ’ in Christmas.
Indeed, maybe that’s a question that all of us need to ask ourselves.
If you want to discover more about advent and reflect more on the Christ in Christmas, then Christine Sine is running a series on her blog ‘Godspace’ (see the link on the right marked ‘Godspace’ if this link doesn’t work) where you can read a number of reflections on advent from different writers from all over the world.
Losing our religion doesn’t mean losing our past
Posted by: pressgang on: November 20, 2009
I’ve often said Jesus came to abolish religion. That He came instead to announce a new way of living, not legalistic, not religious, not seperate from the rest of reality, but fully engaged with it. He came to open up the way for the restoration of all things, and wants us all to play a part in that. That’s what I believe.
I have heard people say that people who call for an end to religion are ignorant of the system that’s given them the freedom to say that, which originally came from the basic truths of Christianity. Fair enough.
I don’t deny for one minute the achievements of the church in the past. I don’t deny people like Spurgeon, Wesley and many many others have had a huge impact on the church and on the Christian faith and that there have been Christians and indeed churches who have hugely impacted and shaped our culture and our world. In fact I love the original idea from the Anglican church of church parishes. It fits in precisely with what I consider church to be, which is a community, and one which extends beyond the realms of a church meeting or building but into the local community and then out into the larger world. That principle is how the church started right at the beginning, and its how it has spread.
Its all about community. About real church. Not religion. You see secular society took the basic principles of our faith and interpreted them for the wider world, which is how we got our basic laws and freedoms. At that time many more people were attending church regularly, church was much more linked to government and to the crown.
In that sense, the teachings of the Bible had a very positive impact upon our culture. And as I said, the principle and idea of parishes was an excellent one in its original concept. There was much more a sense of community and church was a place where all people came together, and was the basis of most people’s moral code. In fact, although people probably don’t even recognise it, the basic moral principles I hear people outside the church talk about originally come from the Bible, they’ve simply been ingrained into our society that no one recognises them as belonging to Christ anymore.
Isn’t that strange? I find it fascinating that these values have become so intertwined into our culture that people don’t even realize that they come from Jesus. That in one way is a good thing, because the values of Jesus are making their way into our culture. But it can also be a bad thing, because it pushes people away from Jesus and makes them more reliant on self.
I don’t ever want to fall into the trap of ‘chronological snobbery’ as C.S. Lewis so aptly put it. That is, to think somehow that people in the past didn’t know it all so couldn’t make a proper decision about what certain concepts or ideas looked like in reality, and that now I have all the facts so I will get it right where they go wrong – and that somehow my idea of right its the definitive one. Its a trap its very easy to fall into and I don’t want to do that.
I value the contribution of the early church and the church in this country to how we operate now, and there have been many good things that have come out of our past, good ideas, good concepts, great achievements. There have been bad ones too, but the truth is we are not perfect, and that is going to happen.
But none of this has anything to do with religion. To me its not the religion of Christianity that shaped our culture and gave us the freedoms we had, its the basic values of Jesus and the teachings of the Bible. These are two very different things. The idea of community to me is the one that has had the most impact on the continued strength of our church. The concept of parish, of people coming together in a church meeting as a community then going out into the world empowered and equipped to deal with our everyday lives and bring those values into the everyday.
The religious boundaries actually didn’t really appear until more recently, when churches have started to die and when those values became more intertwined with our culture, outside the church. As the value of community seems to be dying in many places (not a coincidence maybe that these two things have happened around the same time) and people become more cynical then all that is left of traditional church is religion. Tradition. Rules.
Secular society has taken the basic values of Jesus and bent them and twisted them to suit its own ends, and built a whole culture on it. So any values which don’t fit into that society, any principles which contradict that are rejected. And when the church talks about them they seem like a set of rules which are designed to limit our freedom - the very freedom which we originally obtained from those very values. So the church becomes more and more separate from the world, a religious subculture builds up and although revivals happen it only feeds a Christian subculture. Now this has many positive sides to it, and I have experienced them myself. I am not attacking any church or denomination, or at all implying that God isn’t involved in these churches and these communities, or behind any of what has happened. In fact I’m sure He is.
But a lot of what we are left with after secularism rejects church looks like religion and rules, and ends up separating us as Christians more and more from the world and although church communities might be strong, interaction with the communities they are a part of suffers, and it becomes less easy for newcomers.
What I’m really trying to say here is that I don’t reject the history of our church or consider it irrelivant. I acknowledge its wisdom, its positive aspects and its history, and the way it has shaped our culture. But I believe that it was not religion that had those positive effects. I believe it was the values and teachings of scripture and the principles behind them. It was the value of building church-based communities which ensured the growth of Christianity as the ‘official religion’ of our nation and was the source of our values and morals as a culture.
Time, cultural and technological advances and the sexual and information revolutions have changed all that. And at the same time as moral values got seperated from church and people have become more and more cynical and chronlogically snobbish, rejecting the past, the church itself has been building up more and more traditions and rules and becoming more and more religious.
And true church has got lost amidst it all.
True church.
Being disciples of Jesus, with the values of community, service, forgiveness, love, sacrifice, grace and self-control. These have all been lost. Churches are looking more and more inwards and less and less missional, getting lost in the idea of religion and creating a Christian subculture to protect them from the outside, and creating a clear dividing line between God and His world.
In one sense there needs to be a distinction between God and the secular. But not in that sense. Not in the sense of community, of mission, of church. Only in terms of values. And its those values that we need to be trying to take into our everyday, make Christ part of our everyday, try to redefine our culture to how Jesus envisioned it. With small acts of service, making different choices, being involved in serving our community and trying to create community where we are. Because if anything we can learn from the positive lessons of the past that community and the values of Jesus do stand the test of time, they can be brought into the wider world if we look outwards, an infiltrate culture. If we can avoid them becoming twisted, we can change the world.
This is the restoration of all things that Jesus wanted. Real church is missional and happens through community. Not just a church community, but looking outwards to the community around us, and bringing Jesus into our everyday so that He can impact others everyday. Looking for Jesus anywhere and everywhere, and finding Him.
None of that involves religion. The past nor the present nor the future. Following Jesus is a way of life, its a journey and His church is a community of people on that journey, who try to bring that message to the world and take that community outwards.
Jesus and the church have never been about religion.
They never will.
The end of the beginning
Posted by: pressgang on: November 19, 2009
Tonight I got baptised. This was an incredible experience for me, involving giving my testimony followed by being fully submerged in some very warm water.
But something else happened in my heart through all this process, and I felt compelled to share it with you. Honestly, right now I just want to bless everyone, I feel so blessed and fortunate, and loved and valued by God. He’s done so much for me and I am more grateful than ever for this.
The whole metaphor of baptism is that when we are submerged in the water we are dying to our old life and rising to our new life in Jesus. And as those of you who have read my testimony will know this is very much true for me. Tonight was about putting the past in its place and moving forward, and someone praying for me said he felt this was a pivotal moment in my life. It really felt like it.
As I came out of the water I knew something had changed. I felt a peace in my heart, I felt myself. I felt alive in a way I’d never felt before. The old self I had been for so long and I thought I was was dead, Jesus had washed it away, and I had risen up to a new life with Him. This person God has made me to be and I’d been discovering no longer felt like another person, but it felt like me. Doing this in front of everybody including my family made the transformation in my life real, and suddenly I felt like all the fear and confusion had been washed away. I felt like I belonged, I felt safe.
Our pastor used the metaphor, which those of us in the UK will know, of Doctor Who regenerating, and called baptism a kind of spiritual regeneration, but much bigger than that. I really felt like that in one sense, that one self was dying and another was rising from the midst of it.
This was the culmination of a long process I’ve been on with God. It was a pivotal moment it my life. I was fully going from one life to the other, where my identity and security come from Jesus. I received many words of encouragement, especially about my speaking/teaching up front and some other words from other people. Everyone was so pleased for me and supportive of me, and really generous in giving cards and gifts.
I felt at home. I felt part of something bigger than me. I felt I was somewhere safe and where I belonged and that I finally felt safe in my own skin, that I had become that man God was always making me to be.
Although I know life won’t always be easy and that I will have tough times and doubts in the years ahead, I know God will always be with me. I can remember how He was with me all through those times I thought I was alone and didn’t abandon me, and how He rescued me and brought me to this pivotal moment in my life. I can remember the amazing blessings I had at this time, on this night and the memory of this night I know will be with me forever.
Whenever I have doubts in the future or have tough times, I will be able to look back at this night and remember that I am not alone, that I am walking through this life with Jesus. I can remember that I have an identity that lies in Him, that He loves me and will always be on my side, and will always remember the joy I felt on this night (and am still feeling now).
I want to encourage all of you out there. God is with us even when we don’t realize it, watching over us, looking out for us. He doesn’t abandon or forsake us, but He shows us our true identity and true purpose, and although He doesn’t make problems go away He sticks with us through them all and brings us out the other side, closer to Him and feeling more blessed and loved than ever. He’s saved and transformed my life, and I hope and pray that whether you’ve drifted from faith or you don’t have faith, that you find Jesus. And if you do know Him, don’t ever take Him for granted, keep being thankful, keep seeking Him.
His way is simply the best way to live. He’s the answer to all of life’s questions, and He loves and values us all. He wants us all to live the life He called us to and bring heaven to earth in our daily lives, in all the things we do and decisions we make, He wants His followers to be an outward looking people, an outward looking church who want to serve Him in the world we live in, and spread His message not just through words but through our actions, our decisions and our lifestyle. To find our role in the restoration of all things and go on adventure with Him.
This is the end of the beginning for me. Its the beginning of something new in my life, a new chapter, an adventure with God and I am looking forward to seeing where that takes me.
I want to encourage you all, just grasp hold of Jesus – or let Him grasp hold of you. Trust me, it will be worth it – and He won’t ever let go.
The only kind of church
Posted by: pressgang on: November 17, 2009
I have just watched an interview with the head of advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi on Sky News. I can’t find an online link, however it was very revealing. He is advising the Conservatives on the General Election campaign, and said that in a change from much previous campaigning, people are now looking for something positive. They want hope. They want something real. He used the example of Barack Obama’s successful campaign to be President, which was run on the same lines. He said that people are not looking to be led, they feel its up to them to make their own minds up, and they are all sick of the negative campaigning as things are so bad. They want hope, genuine hope for the future and to know their role in it, to know they are secure through difficult times. He concluded by saying that the party who offers that will be more likely to win.
Now the idea of ‘winning’, ‘competition’ and ‘market’ all go against the values that Jesus taught and lived out. But it reminded me that the message which provides genuine authentic hope, helps you find your true identity and gives you the ultimate security is the message of Jesus, and that we have a unique opportunity at this time – which we cannot waste.
It caused me great frustration too, because people are clearly open and looking for that hope, for that quest for their true identity, for something to put their faith in. Its like a harvest out there waiting to be reaped. Yet all the church is doing is separating itself more and more from the world and what’s going on in it. The church is seen as divided and hypocritical and people have lost faith in it. There are few churches in this country which are growing, and only 1% of the population regularly attend church (as opposed to ‘just’ 25 % in the USA).
I don’t like to use the term ‘marketing’ in relation to church, but it appears to me that the church is not communicating its message in the right way. Its not ’selling’ itself well enough – and there are many reasons for that.
I personally think many churches have set themselves up as they are and refuse to change and adapt to their environment, refuse to change how they communicate and don’t want to look outwards. The church no longer takes the lead on the issues that matter either, but seems to follow the tide. Churches look more and more inwards to self-preservation rather than looking outwards and being missional. I can’t tell you just how frustrating this is. My church is one of the few that does seem to be missional and outward looking. But its hard to find them.
I’m afraid the church simply has to change. There are a few good churches doing this, but not enough of them.
And we need to remember that the medium is the message. Its not true that ‘the medium changes, but the messages stay the same’. That simply isn’t the case. How we communicate our message impacts the message people will receive, and sometimes certain messages are communicated without us even realizing it. These can be positive, through social action, or public forgiving someone no one else does, or making little but noticeable decisions differently. But it can also be very negative, which often comes from how we do church and the message the established church sends out, both in the public domain and in its language and sometimes even its attitude to new members who don’t ‘fit’ with their church.
The solution?
We need to provide a message that is in language people understand, we need to take religion out of the equation. We need to get the fundamental message across that following Jesus is not a religion, that its a way of life. We need to have a genuine ‘come as you are’ culture in church. We need to change the medium, the language and focus on the values of Jesus that unite people and many of us share, rather than the religion that divides us. This is the only hope for authentic church growth and for evangelism.
You see the message of Jesus is one of real, authentic hope.
Its one about the restoration of all things to how it was originally designed them to be. It shows us that there is a bigger story going on and that we all have a role to play in it, in which we find our true purpose and identity. The message is that no matter what our status, wealth, situation or issues, no matter who we are or what we’ve done, we are unconditionally loved by the creator of all things who sent His son to die to rescue us and initiate a great earth-restoration project to bring heaven and earth back together, of which we are all invited to be a part.
Its not about getting a ticket to heaven. Its not about how bad we are now and how much we need to change our ways or we’ll burn in hell. Its not about religion. Its not about tradition or a set or rules which we need to adhere to to get God’s blessing or approval. God’s love isn’t conditional on us doing the right thing all the time and having or living the perfect life.
Those things need to be taken out of the equation.
The church needs to look outwards.
The role of a church meeting is for it not to be the point. Its simply a place where we engage with God in a focussed way in community, and get teaching on how to live out what we believe in our everyday lives, bringing Jesus into the everyday. A place where we worship and celebrate together and have fellowship, but which is focussed on looking outwards and helping people engage with the world through their faith and with their faith.
The church which emerges out of this service is a community. The leaders of that community facilitate a structure where people from that community get discipleship, training, accountability, opportunities to serve and pastoral support when things are difficult. It is a community which at its best a sense of family, but also has a missional outlook. House groups play an important part in achieving and carrying this out, as does prayer ministry, discipleship training of various types and ministry training. Leaders of a church community also need to create or open up opportunities for people to engage with their local community by getting involved with community action projects, or starting their own, and look outwards from our relative security of the west and how we can serve the wider world.
A church has to be outward looking, it has to be missional.
It has to be evangelistic.
It has to present the gospel as a present reality which we play a part in and show us how we can do that by putting the teachings of the Bible in their proper context, explaining them and showing what they mean for us now, and how they should be impacting our lives now. That deals with the issues we all face and talks about them from God’s perspective, but in a way all can understand.
In order to present this message, we need to know what people are looking for – and from this interview I saw its pretty clear what they are looking for. I spoke to my cousin’s husband – an atheist – recently and he said that his problem wasn’t believing in God, but with the hypocrisy of religion and the church and without that he’d be open to the idea of God.
Maybe, in reality, the problem with the church is the church.
If we save the church then maybe we can see it grow and it – or we - can become more the kind of church Jesus always wanted it to be.
The scandal of grace
Posted by: pressgang on: November 14, 2009
Let me tell you a little story. There was a millionaire once, a good man who was generous with his wealth. He had two sons, and had set up a trust fund for each. When the eldest one turned 18 he went to University, graduated with high honours and went on to manage the family business by the time he was 25. The younger son, when he turned 18 however, asked for his entire trust fund to be paid to him outright. His father, generous as he was, gave it to him. He went travelling round the world, and lost contact with his family. In the process he squandered all his wealth on sex with endless numbers of women, drugs, alcohol and partying, and made some really bad investments which cost him all his money. He couldn’t afford to live so had to work on a farm to support himself, including feeding the pigs, and was living in a cheap youth hostel in the country. He was too proud to go back, so kept on doing this.
Eventually, he came to his senses. He realised that even the worst job at his dad’s company was better than what he had, so he resolved to go back and ask for a job as a cleaner in his dad’s company. So he set off back. His dad was out front working in his garden, which was his hobby, and saw his son walking up to the gates of his house. Even though he was dirty and unshaven, his dad recognised him. He ran towards him and opened the gates and hugged him. The son said “I have let you down and been reckless with what you’ve given me, make me a cleaner in one of your offices”. But the father said to him, “Bring out some new clothes for him. Take him shopping and get him a whole new wardrobe, call the caterers and let’s have a big party to celebrate. For my son was gone, but is back.”
Now the elder son came back to the mansion from a busy day at work at the dad’s company and saw the party. He found out from one of those waiting tables what the party was for, and saw his brother across the room. He felt very bitter and upset took his father aside and said “What’s this? I have always lived as you wanted me to, I did well at school and university, and have done a brilliant job running your company, I have done all you dreamed for me. Yet you never throw a party for me. He has squandered all you’ve given him and abused himself, ruined himself and screwed up his life totally. Yet for him you call the caterers and have a mass party. He may have admitted his mistakes, but this is totally unfair”.
The father said “Please son, try to understand. You’re always with me, and everything I have belongs to you. But I thought my son had gone forever, that he was dead. But he’s alive again. He was lost, but he’s now been found”
Does this story sound familiar? To those who’ve read the story of Jesus, it should be.
This is a modern telling of the story of the prodigal son. Its one of the most famous and well-used passages in the Bible, and I’ve lost count of the number of books there’ve been about it and the number of talks I’ve heard on it. When we hear it told in the Bible as Jesus spoke it, we can find it easy to empathize with the younger son can’t we? It tells us all about the grace and love of God that has been extended to us by God, because we’ve all screwed up in one way or another.
But I think sometimes, that many of us – even Christians, in fact especially Christians – can be more like the elder son on a subconscious level, especially when we get comfortable in our church and our personal lives, when things are generally how we want them to be and we don’t want them to change.
People come in from the outside who have rejected church, or are new to church, or new to our church, who completely shake things up. People who think differently, whose outlook is generally more outward looking, who is at that point in life and with God where they are fearless and thinking of all kinds of new ideas and visions, and are sharing them with people. People who are gifted in areas where other people in the church are gifted, but provide a fresh perspective which can take the church forward.
Or alternatively, they might be from a tough background. They could be coming from a difficult home, struggling with major issues, feeling excluded by the world, make everyone feel uncomfortable and not know what to say or how to deal with it. And we may see the blessing of God on them in extraordinary ways, powerful and tangible ways which we may not have seen for a while, probably because we’re too comfortable.
The consequences of both are the same. Jealousy. Anger. Resentment. Envy. Feeling a ‘bit put out’.
In our subconscious, or even in our prayers consciously we start to question why this is happening. Why these people are being blessed so much, why they are getting so much influence, why they are getting all the attention and lavish blessings from God when we’ve been involved in the church for years doing things and not got the same amount of blessing. Its easy to feel that we’ve earned more responsibility, we have more of a right to blessing and success, and position, and status in the church. That we are comfortable and things are good and things which take us out of that or represent a threat are not good. We have this idea in our minds that somehow we are worth more, that we deserve more from God because of how we’ve lived or what we’ve done.
When the truth actually is no matter how much we achieve or do in life, or in the church, makes no difference to God. This is because of the scandal of grace.
The scandal of grace is that we don’t earn blessing from God, we are given it. No matter what we do, it counts as nothing. In Ephesians Paul says it’s by grace we’ve been saved. You see although James says our faith should be shown through our actions, its not our actions that gain us God’s blessing or approval. God wants us to live a certain way, and He wants us to live out what we believe in our everyday. But this is not so He will bless us more or for any reward, its because its what’s best for us and its what God wants for us.
But the scandal of grace is that we are all loved, blessed and accepted anyway. No matter what our status, success, reputation or position, no matter what we’ve done or been through, Jesus grace for all of us is the same. Jesus love for all of us is the same. It is infinite and never changes.
I have a friend who was just like the younger son I’ve talked about above, doing many of the same things. He came back, we became good friends and I supported him and he found Jesus again, and God went and really blessed Him with many amazing things. Things I’d always wanted, things I desired deeply and didn’t have. Meanwhile I thought I’d always done the right thing, always made the right choices, live the right life, do everything right to get God’s approval. I felt deep down I deserved the blessing of God in these things and wasn’t getting it. I felt it was unfair. I was just like the elder son, and I told God about it. I let Him know how I felt. I began to feel I had to become like the rebellious son to get His attention. Finally, I got to the point we get to at the end of the story.
At the end of the story there is a deliberate absence. Jesus doesn’t tell us the elder son’s response – and that’s because I think that that response is really our own response.
We can accept and open our eyes to what we already have . To God’s blessing all around us, what He has already given us, what we already have in our lives, to the good things going on rather than focussing on what we don’t have.
Or we can keep moaning and complaining and we may end up like the rebellious son, which while the ending might be great, will be painful, humbling and involve some pain and suffering along the way. Or we will remain on the outside of everything and bitter and upset and we will never move on with God, we’ll be trapped in limbo.
We need to get that the scandal of grace is that our achievements, our status, our successes, our bad decisions, our mistakes and our failures don’t go into credit or debit with God. That grace means there is no such thing as credit or debit with God. His grace, His love isn’t dependent on any of that. He loves and and blesses us because of His grace towards us, made possible through the cross.And ultimately, all of us are in His debt through the cross, but that can never be repaid.
But it doesn’t have to be. God loves and blesses us anyway.
That’s the scandal of grace.
What is liturgy?
Posted by: pressgang on: November 8, 2009
Liturgy.
Its a word used often in church to describe rituals, prayers, traditions and how we explain, engage with and introduce them. It’s something that is used especially in traditional churches from older denominations, to describe the language they use in communion, prayer and other church rituals.
I personally don’t include communion in that. For me, communion is much bigger than a liturgy, its a Holy sacriment, something we do to share in the body and blood of Jesus, a way of joining with Him in that, and remembering what He did for us. Its bigger and more powerful than any liturgy or prayer in church, and what’s more is something we should probably do more often. Some people define this act as liturgy, but frankly I think that’s an injustice. Its so much more than that, and apart from anything else, its in the Bible, unlike most other liturgies. Its totally different.
When I say liturgy in a church context, I’m talking about ritualistic prayers that we often get in church – which can sometimes be blessings and connect us with God, and have done for me on several occasions. However, I know from experience in my old Methodist and Anglican churches that sometimes they can appear, frankly, dated and boring, and have the danger of becoming over-religious and legalistic, and pushing people further away from God.
So lets look at what it actually means.
The word ‘liturgy’ means “a prescribed form or set of forms for public worship”. On the face of it a very rigid, religious definition and the one we are most used to using.
But hold on. Lets just go back there.
A prescribed form of public worship. That’s a very interesting definition. A much broader and less legalistic one. And potentially a more powerful and significant one.
If we define worship as ‘worth-ship’, giving something their worth, their due, giving them honour and praise and witnessing to their worth, then worship is a much bigger deal than in a church service.
Worship of Jesus is more than just songs in church, and I think most Christians would agree with that. Its in how you live, how you treat people, how you witness to your faith publicly, how you put your faith into practice – essentially live a Christ-like life – that can be worship as well.
So liturgy then is not just a set of prayers or rituals then is it? In fact, it doesn’t have to involve them at all.
Liturgy, in its truest sense, is a much bigger deal than that. Its living in Jesus ‘prescribed’ way for us to live. Its not something you read or listen to, its something you do.
Essentially, Christian liturgy in its broadest, and I would argue truest meaning is following – publicly – Jesus ‘prescribed’ way for us to live, by publicly living in the way God intended us. By bringing the way of Jesus into our everyday lives, by orientating our lives, choices and decisions around Jesus we are all practicing liturgy.
In fact, being a Christian demands us practicing liturgy, in that sense. Jesus asks us to publicly, not privately, follow His prescribed way of living – the way of living God designed us for. The only way to bring peace and justice to the world, to solve the problem of sin and make this world as it should be, to solve the problems of the world, is to follow God’s prescription for the world.
Jesus signed off this prescription with His blood, on the cross. To continue the metaphor, now all we have to do is go to the chemist, get the medication, and take it. And keep on taking it.
I am epileptic, and earlier in my life I used to forget to take my medication a fair amount, and there were consequences, in that I had an epileptic fit. So when we don’t take God’s prescribed medication for our lives, follow His prescription for our lives, there are consequences. But like my medication, there’s always more of it to take, and those problems can be overcome.
Now what about the other meaning of liturgy, where does that leave that?
Well, liturgy as we know it in a church context – rituals and pre-written prayers – is only one part of what liturgy really is. Its not the point, but it helps us connect to the point, as long as we don’t get religious with it. That’s the danger inherent in that type of liturgy, that we can so carried away with the words and rituals that our faith gets lost in the religion. We need to remember in all our church services that this form of liturgy, while beneficial and helpful to some in many ways, isn’t the point. And that it doesn’t work for everyone.
That’s been the problem with a lot of the ‘establishment’ denominations, that a lot of churches within those traditions have got so caught up with ritual, tradition and religion that they have lost the heart of the gospel, they have lost the bigger meaning of liturgy. Rules, traditions and liturgy have almost become more important than the heart of the gospel, and that’s why we have to be careful with this type of liturgy.
However, there is no doubt that some of those rituals and prayers can help us to connect with God, used at the right time in the right context. There’s nothing wrong with them in themselves, we just need to be careful how and when we use them, and not define our faith or our churches by them, and not use them all the time. And remember they aren’t the point, and don’t work for everyone.
Liturgy in that context works for some people and for some it doesn’t, and we need to accept that.
However, liturgy in the bigger context isn’t an option or a tradition. The bigger and more important meaning of liturgy is re-defining your way of life and orientating it around a prescribed way of living, and as a Christian that’s to bring Jesus into the everyday, make Him part of our everyday lives and choices, live according to His values and teachings.
Bringing the sacred and the common closer together, as Jesus intended, and forgetting religion and tradition, and bringing heaven crashing together.
That’s the broader, bigger and less religious meaning of liturgy, and one that I believe is more in tune with the kind of life Jesus wants us to live.
Liturgy in the context of a church service you can take or leave as you choose. Its not a requirement. While at its best it can be a blessing and a very moving experience for any of us, in its worst form can end up becoming religious and legalistic. There is definitely a place for it in church, but its not the point and never can be, and it has a limited role which needs perspective and wisdom to ensure it doesn’t smother the real heart of our faith.
However, liturgy in the context of following Jesus’ prescribed way of living and bringing it into our everyday lives and choices, the bigger meaning, is what being a disciple of Jesus Christ is all about.
So lets move away from a rigid, religious definition of liturgy in a Christian context, and focus on its bigger meaning first. The church liturgy can come later.
The bigger meaning, ultimately, has much more significance for our lives, for without that any ‘traditional’ liturgy is meaningless. If you aren’t following the way of Jesus, then ultimately you won’t be practicing the liturgies within church. But if you are, then you are more likely to be there to experience them.
And the bigger meaning explains much better what following Jesus is ultimately all about.
Find God anywhere
Posted by: pressgang on: November 7, 2009
I have always thought that if we truly seek God and want to see or hear from Him, have our eyes open and are willing to hear or see Him in unexpected places, He can meet with us anywhere and through anything. The creative gifts in people all ultimately come from God, so I believe they can connect us back to Him, even they weren’t intended that way. So bearing that in mind, read the words below…
Is it right or wrong, try to find a place
We can all belong
Be as one, try to get a life
If we unify
We should really try
All this time, spinning round and round
Make the same mistakes, that we’ve always found
Surely now, we can move along
Make a better world, where we can belong
Lets come together, right now, in sweet harmony
Time is running out
There can be no doubt
We should sort things out
If we care, like we say we do
Not just empty words, for a week or two
Make the world your priority
Try to live your life ecologicly
Play a part in the big scheme
Try to live your dream
Just like it seems
Lets come together, right now, in sweet harmony
Now you may recoginse the words from a famous song (see Youtube clip at the end if you don’t remember the tune). But I don’t know about you, but when I heard that song and listened to the lyrics, the only thing I could think is “That’s it! They’ve got it! That sums it completely! That is church”
This speaks to me in so many ways about God and about church, about the hope Jesus gives us and our own relationship to God and the world. Its incredible.
Look at the words again, from a Jesus perspective. It speaks of our own mistakes which seperate us from God – ’sin’ and how God can redeem them. About living in community together, doing something about the problems of the world. Taking care of the environment and the world around us. Not just saying the right thing, but doing the right thing. Playing a part in a bigger scheme – God’s grand restoration project for the whole of creation, for which the death and resurrection of Jesus was the catalyst.
Ultimately, it speaks of when heaven comes back to earth, when Jesus comes back.
Us being together in sweet harmony with God.
And it reminds me that even though this world is far from perfect, we can experience a bit of that ’sweet harmony’ right now.
That song to me is now no longer just a great tune, its a worship song. Whenever I listen to it, or hear it anywhere, I think of God. I think of how amazing He is, of the hope that He brings us, what could be possible if we could discover and do church in the way God intended. Of what could be achieved if the church ditched their divisions and religion and focussed on the things that matter. It reminds me of the promise and the hope of the cross.
Some of you may wonder how it does this. But I say again, God can really be found anywhere if you’re looking for Him and listening for Him. Its just a matter of opening our eyes to see it.
If you can’t appreciate that, then have a listen to the song, with pictures taken from the Hubble space telescope which show us galaxies, stars and suns which are millions of miles away, which were all made by God. I mean, I am always blown away by pictures of space, because it reminds me of the awesomeness and power of God. The colours, design, power and sheer size of it all blows me away in awe and wonder.
But put with these lyrics its absolute dynamite.
They show us a God who is immediate, intimate and active in our world, but big, awesome and powerful enough to create stars, suns and galaxies of amazing beauty and power.
They show us that we are part of a bigger story, one that has been going on since the beginning – and that God wants us all to be a part of.
Isn’t that awesome?
Honestly, after watching that I don’t really know what else there is to say. What an awesome, wonderful, creative and loving God. What’s more, the God who did all that wants to know us and have relationship with us all, loves us immeasurably, and He accepts and meets us right where we are, how we are, whatever state we’re in. Truly awesome.
If we are really looking for Him, any of us can find Him. And we can find Him anywhere, even in the most unexpected places.
Join in with God
Posted by: pressgang on: November 4, 2009
Got a few little things I wanted to share in terms of what’s coming up on this site. I’m currently researching/writing some stuff on the principle/idea of the Sabbath (including practicing a Sabbath and experiencing it myself) which I hope to have up sometime before Christmas. I have a lot of ideas I’ve written down for projects or things I’d like to write/speak about, and am currently trying to get some time to think about them properly and see what form they look like too. They may end up as blog posts (or parts of them anyway) but they may also end up as other things too, so I will keep you all in the loop as much as I can on those things, and would appreciate your prayers and support in all of this.
I’m beginning to learn that rather than trying to push everything yourself, its often good to look at what God is already doing, and join in on that. Sometimes God speaks to you and tells you to do something, or initiate something, but sometimes its a process as you start to hear things about different topics and subjects, and bump it to it more often, so you sense its time to talk about it. That’s what’s happened with this idea and thinking about the Sabbath, and about reflecting on things I want to communicate to people and how I can do this best, in whatever medium or form it takes. And often the best thing to do is to see how it pans out, have an open mind about what God wants to do and how He wants to do it.
I have ideas to communicate, but it may be more than a blog. It may be a podcast, or short film/video, or book, or website or a combination of all of them, or some of them or even none of them. My job is just to pursue it and see how it pans out.
The bigger vision is my overall perspective on the Christian faith and being a disciple of Jesus, and what church was always planned to look like in terms of its values, attitudes, perspectives, purpose and mission, and how that looks in todays world. In seeing how what God has spoken through the Bible means in our 21st century consumer, secular culture, and what the life, death and resurrection of Jesus means for us now. I feel strongly that eventually, it will get to the point of attempting to see what it works out like in reality myself – and in the meantime it means trying to put this into practice in my own church community.
I’m excited by what God is doing now, and I’m sure there’s more to come, and it will probably come in ways and means I don’t expect.
I just need to keep on seeing what God is doing in me already, without being concously aware of it, and then keep joining in with that and being obedient to it. That’s one of the things I’m trying to do with my baptism, and in writing this blog. Its something I think we all need to do, and it brings a sense of excitement, anticipation and adventure into our journey with God. Jesus told us if that if we seek, we will find.
If we look for God working in our lives and keep our eyes open, then we can join in with it. In doing that, we are working in harmony with God and through this God can work more powerfully. In the process, we discover more of ourselves.
Join in with God. Its the only way to go.
