… and “we wish you a happy Christmas"

Three years ago I made a musical discovery.  I was introduced to Sufjan Stevens, a singer-songwriter from Detroit, Michigan, who is described as mixing ‘autobiography, religious fantasy, and regional history to create folk songs of grand proportions.’  Since 2001, Sufjan has recorded an annual EP of Christmas songs – although not the sort that you will hear on the radio.  Some are typically idiosyncratic versions of traditional carols; others are original works, often having a dig at the commercialization of Christmas with all its false hope and ideals.  One writer notes:

Armed with a Reader’s Digest Christmas Songbook (and a mug of hot cider) Sufjan & friends concocted a musical fruit cake year after year… What he discovered, for better or for worse, was a fascinating canon of Yuletide hits, some emotionally rewarding, some painfully cliché… What does it all add up to? A headache, a hangover, and sentimental ruminations of Baby Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and all those animals in the manger (http://music.sufjan.com/album/silver-gold).

Sufjan Steven’s music is interesting because it brings together the sentimental and the critical, the sacred and the profane, and the Holy and the human.  Yet, although it perhaps takes a patient ear to hear it, I wonder whether it communicates something of the challenge of the biblical Christmas story as it resounds through the ages and the reality of life in the 21^st century.  In the Gospels we are bedazzled by the appearance of angels, the movement of the Holy Spirit, and the birth of Jesus, but at other times we read of the brutal awkwardness of the human situation – political oppression, tough government edicts and murderous power games. 

As 2012 draws to a close we are only too aware of human brutality and suffering.  Into this mix the Saviour of the world was born, our Lord Jesus Christ, offering us hope and a promise beyond the confusion and pain; grace sufficient for today and for all eternity.  We are bedazzled by the ‘Light of the World’.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

'... everlasting arms... ' - the problem of the doctrine of original sin in postmodernity

'... and underneath are the everlasting arms...' (Deuteronomy 33.27)

I have recently engaged in an uncomfortable pastoral conversation about the doctrine of original sin and the ideas of justification by faith and repentance; important propositions found Scripture, alighted upon during the Protestant Reformation, and expressed within the evangelical movement of the modern era.  

There is rightfully, a biblical, liturgical and ecclessiological argument for some form of cognitive acknowledgement the fall; of our human weakness and corruption as an a priori condition to faith, justification, and reception of God's forgiveness and mercy.  However, an approach to gospel proclamation that lays emphasis on this comes into sharp dispute with certain types of human experiences.  For some the good news of God's love and mercy is overshadowed by the bad news of very real human tragedy to the point where it can barely be heard.  How might a mother who has experienced the pain of losing an unborn child be led to understand that unless she turns to Christ she is irrevocably lost, when her baby will never have the same opportunity to respond?  Or what of the profoundly disabled person who may have a limited ability to process such propositions and articulate a response to God's gift of grace in Christ.  All this causes us to revisit questions such as: what does it mean to be born in sin?  How do we 'Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ' and be saved?

I wonder whether the Lord Jesus only ever calls us to respond with the limited understanding and strength we have in accordance with the psychological development appropriate to our stage in life, and in a sense our response is always a gift from God; a response that flows from the love God has for us from the very beginning.  Balthasar in particular describes faith as seeing God in the light that radiates in and through the form of Jesus Christ - a glory that contains the whole Christ event in all its rich, salvific and eternal effect.  Perhaps to catch a small glimpse of that light is enough without necessarily being able to recognize the full significance of the glory as a whole.  When we catch a glimpse of God's light in Christ we look and are transported into love itself; a love that continues forever.  This glimpse may or may not reach us through conventional, traditional or predictable means.  Scripture, the Church, worship - the liturgy, sacraments and preaching are important, but these things are surely, as the writer to the Hebrews says of the ancient temple, an earthly copy; a vital pointer towards heavenly reality which is spiritual and mystical. 

Whatever stage of physical, cognitive, spiritual development a human being reaches, I wonder whether there is always opportunity to discover Christ's love and respond to God.  The Spirit of Christ is always speaking and is poured out upon all creation for the redemption of the whole world.  

For a fully developed adult, it makes sense that true repentance and sorrow for sin is required.   An adult person should have reached a point of maturity and responsibility, with an understanding of abstract concepts logical, ethical and aesthetic necessary to be able grasp the message and challenge of Christian teaching.  For the young child, a simple trust in the friendship of the Lord Jesus is entirely appropriate.  A mind that is exploring the world through human connections and story will come to faith this way.  For the still-born babe, a surrendering into love; the silent love found in the Father's everlasting arms is all that is needed.  For the profoundly disabled person with a mind that remains a mystery to those offering loving care and support, it is the simplicity of being a beautiful child made in the image of God.


So then, the preaching of salvation, for pastoral reasons, should not emphasize the a priori condition of sinful humanity, but rather the a priori love of God, who was in the beginning before all things loving the world into being.

Jesus once said to a confused teacher of Israel, '... no-one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit' (John 3.5b-6).  Just as we have no control over our physical birth, perhaps ultimately we have no control over our spiritual birth.  Both require us to submit to the gentle work of God in the world by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.

Making contact with today's culture

Graham Cray on culturally relevant church music for future reference.

'Why do you look for the living among the dead?' (Luke 24.25b)

Here we have an atmospheric scene: the pale poor-quality daylight of an early morning; the silhouettes of three women making their way to a lonely place; the dull scent of freshly prepared spices in the air; the dramatic shock of an open grave.  Something deeply disturbing has taken place.  Into this dimly-lit scene burns two brilliant figures - the contrast couldn't be more stark - the women bow, their faces touch the ground.  But one can imagine that it is not the silence of the empty tomb or this strange meeting with the men in shining clothes that is most disorientating, rather it is the dialogue that follows.  For me, it is the question, 'Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here, he has risen!...' which resounds most loudly

I cannot escape these words.  The women were not looking for the living among the dead, they were looking for the dead among the dead.  Their quest was quite misguided. What am I looking for these days?  And what do I expect find when I get there?  In all my searching for the living God (Psalm 42.2) do I still return to the place of death and decay?  Do I cling onto my limited  human understanding, the default position of weakness and death and grieving, because - let's face it - this comes most naturally.  Or, can I look beyond?  

If the tomb is not the place to find the Lord Jesus, then where is?  Where is the place of 'living'?  The answer to this question, in Luke, is among the community of believers (vv. 30 & 36), in the breaking of bread (v. 30), in the opening of the Scripture (vv. 27, 32, 45 & 46), in the mission of the church (v. 47 &48), and the promise of the Holy Spirit (v. 49).

I will continue praying these words,  'Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, he has risen!...'  until they sink into my spirit, until I realize my loss and confusion, until I am strong enough to walk out of the valley of the shadow of death.  

'Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, he has risen!...'

'Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, he has risen!...'

'Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, he has risen!...'

Healing the heart: unblocking the 'u' bend

Introduction

• the most significant healing we receive from God is a healing of the heart; the healing from being alienated from God and alienated from our true selves.

• I wonder whether the biggest and hardest lesson we have to learn in this life is how much God loves us. If we feel unloved or believe that we are fundamentally unlovable, then it will be nigh-on impossible to love others.

• to be a people of grace we need a healing of the heart

A Model used in Christian Counselling

(adapted from Lawrence J Crabb, Basic Principles of Biblical Counselling, p. 51)

Often Christian teaching tries to tackle sin at the situational level or at the level of behaviour or feelings.  We say, "avoid situations that cause you to sin, change sinful behaviour/feelings", but this may not result in our healing and transformation until we address the underlying sinful beliefs held about ourselves; in other words, until the heart is healed.

It’s like a blocked sink.  Trying to change situation/behaviour without dealing with underlying problem, is like removing the surface water without attending to the blockage, the real problem, the need for a healing of the heart. 

The psalmists wrote, ‘You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.' (Ps. 51.6)

Application Questions

• what situations bring out the worst in me?
• how do I behave/what do I feel?
• what thoughts and beliefs cause this?
• what does the Bible teach/the Spirit of Jesus say to this?
• have I taken to heart how much God really loves me?
• what new beliefs/thoughts emerge?
  or new feelings/behaviour
• Can I name these things?

Will we allow Jesus to meet our deepest need to be loved, accepted and forgiven, and receive the healing we desperately need?

• we all need love - a human being can survive without many things, but not without love. 
• we can only live in freedom, forgiveness and grace, if we have understood and experienced at the deepest core of our being God’s love, forgiveness and grace communicated to us by Jesus.

‘But God demonstrates his love for us in this: that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.’ (Romans 5.8)

(from a sermon preached on 15 July 2012 at St. John's, Muxton to listen go to http://www.stjohnsmuxton.org.uk/category/sermons/)

Peter in the black hurricane (Luke 22.54-62)

'Then seizing him they went and entered the high priest's house; but Peter followed at a distance.  But when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together Peter sat among them... and the Lord turned around and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered what the Lord had said to him ... and he went out and wept bitterly.' (Luke 22.54-55, 61a & 62 translation mine)


If we look carefully at the string of third-person plural personal pronouns in Luke's retelling of Peter's denial of Jesus, we notice that the whole sorry event takes place at night around that fire kindled in the court-yard of the house of the high priest.  


Jesus has been arrested, forcibly led to the house, and now sits under guard around the fire.  The trial has yet to begin (Luke 22.66).  Peter, who at first followed at a distance, joins the gathering.  He may have been less than 10 feet away from Jesus when, undercover of darkness and the shifting shadows of the amber flames, he denies knowing the man who meant so much to him.  That turning, that look from Jesus, is all the more poignant when we discover that he heard every word of his friends betrayal.


What more could be done?  Peter finds himself swept up in the blackness of the moment when all humanity turns against the Lord of life.  He has yet to be touched by the reality of Jesus true identity, by the drama of Jesus' death and resurrection.  His foolish attempt to stay close to Jesus at all costs is trumped by weakness and human sin.  There is nothing he can do to escape the black fiery hurricane that enfolds Christ in his darkest hour.


...And yet there is mercy.  Jesus needs to speak no other words at this moment other than that which he has already been spoken.  The look is all that is needed.  Peter's denial is complete and he is spared going one step further in his duplicity and complicity with the events that are unfolding by leaving before the guards turn on Jesus.  


If he had stayed would he have been compelled to join them in mocking and beating his dear friend to prove the point.  No, in mercy, he is spared this at least...

Transparent Humanity - 1 June 2012

'There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs' (Luke 12.2-3) Jesus warning against hypocrisy and human duplicity is deeply disturbing. A single word comes to mind when reflecting on the spiritual reality behind this teaching: 'transparency'. God desires for his children harmony between our behaviour in the private and public spheres of life; for there to be no discrepancy between interior attitudes, thoughts, feelings, emotions and outward expression (cf. also Luke 11.33f). We are called to transparency. There might be a mystical dimension to this, what Thomas Merton calls 'sacramental illumination' - a life offered to God through which the light of Christ shines - but it does not end there. The call to transparency must go beyond the spiritual and mystical, to touch the ethical and sociological. A transformed transparent human being is not just an ontologically static entity; an empty vase, say, that is filled with glory and light, but a dynamic creature baptised into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that exhibits freedom and loving service; a person in whom the virtual ideology of virtue becomes real and concrete, the heavenly earthly, and the eschatological a present phenomenon. Who I am in the inner room should be no different to who I am in the high-street.

Gloria Patris - 25th May

As I prayed the Gloria Patris this morning I realised how unfamiliar I am with the three persons of the Trinity; how little I know of the glory of the Lord; how ignorant; short-sighted - blind; mind darkened; broken; forgetful even; weak - incompetent - human, with a void between these words, this prayer of mine and the perfect knowledge of the beauty of the glory of the eternal Creator, Redeemer and Reconciling One. However: what is knowledge without love? What is love without freedom? It is through the gift of divine love that we are known by God and are able to know God. We are rescued and led into Glory.

Lent 2012

We are about to enter a new season in the church calendar, Lent – that forty-day penitential season modelled on Jesus’ time in the Judean desert that helps Christians prepare for Easter.

When I was at theological college Lent was marked by a definite change in the worshipping life of the community.  On Ash Wednesday, there would be a Holy Communion service with the imposition of ashes (the signing of the cross with moistened ash on the forehead) and instead of Common Worship for Morning Prayer we turned to the Book of Common Prayer with its focus on the confession of sins and the mercy of God. 

Elsewhere, people choose to observe Lent in different ways.  I was impressed last year to learn that some in our parishes had chosen to give-up chocolate or wine and/or to commit themselves afresh to reading Scripture or Christian books.  It is good that a negative ‘self-denying’ discipline be accompanied by a positive ‘life-giving’ discipline (e.g. money saved on chocolate given to charity, or time spent away from the Television in prayer).  I’ve not given-up anything during Lent since 1998!  However this year I feel inspired to do so (you can ask me what in due course). 

Generally, in society, there is a residual awareness of the concept of fasting during Lent, but it is often trivialized.  The purpose of ‘spiritual discipline’ is lost in a world that values material comfort and is uncertain about how to pursue a healthy human spirituality.  Richard Foster explains that the spiritual disciplines can be a path to ‘inner transformation and healing’, but we stray when we think that God automatically rewards our efforts.  Choosing to fast during Lent is about saying that there is something more fundamental to my human existence than the physical and material (‘one does not live by bread alone’ - Luke 4.4).  It is also about repositioning ourselves before God in such a way that we are better placed to receive grace.  ‘As we travel on this path, the blessing of God will come upon us and reconstruct us into the image of Jesus Christ’ (Foster, 1980).