Tomorrow, I come...

"Heaven and earth shall flee away, when he comes to reign"
"We shall see him; but in heaven"
"Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth"
"Cast out our sin, and enter in"
"Fit us for heaven"

We sing these words lots this time of year...

Seriously, we do!

Amidst the frankly romanticised and misty-eyed images of little towns, mangers, sheep and babies we sing, in our carols, some profoundly challenging words. Our Advent carols often carry dark images of Jesus return, but we can overlook the references in the traditional Christmas carols too.

And I think this is entirely appropriate...

Advent (for we are still in it) is a penitential season. But somehow if all I do at the end of the season is pretend that I'm an ancient Jew longing for a Messiah, or merely observing (in song) Jesus' nativity (like Harry Potter in Dumbledore's pensieve) then how, precisely, am I minded to penitence? We must remain fixed on the dual vision of Advent - both of Jesus' coming.

From 17th December, at evening prayer (vespers) before reciting the Magnificat (Mary's song of praise from Luke) the 'O Antiphons' are used. I blogged about this here. These antiphons focus on aspects of Jesus' nature, names he is given. The acrostic phrase, 'Ero Cras', means 'Tomorrow I come'...

Careful meditation on the theme of Christ's return drives us to consider themes of judgment, heaven, hell, resurrection...and naturally our own preparation.

We sing of being ready for heaven, for a life cleansed of sin. With Christmas but one week away, I will spend some time thinking (briefly) about each of the names of Jesus from this acrostic, and how we might be prepared for His return.

Advent...O come...

I love, absolutely love Advent. It is such a brilliant season; the expectation of Christmas, the increased number of parties, the rose-tinted memories, the carols, carolling and Christmas chart hits, the nagging realisation that I really should start preparing for Christmas sooner, and on
it goes. It is a season for family, laughter, friends and light.

But it's so much more...

Advent is the first season in the Church of England's calendar. And in this season we remember the two comings of Jesus - his first in Bethlehem as a baby, his second as Lord and King of the Universe to usher in his new kingdom. We live our lives in reference to these comings. His first bringing forgiveness and peace with God, his second fulfilling the whole of creation's purpose. We live diligently and faithfully assured of the certainty of both. The second coming of Christ has really been a topic that has grown in my mind this last year and a half. I am more convinced than ever that we need to live accordingly...

So I wanted to highlight one way, in Advent, the church makes us focus on Jesus' return.

One hymn we sing in Advent is 'O Come O Come Emmanuel'. It is an ancient tune, using even more ancient lyrics, but for many the liturgical significance passes them by.

From 17th December, at evening prayer (vespers) before reciting the Magnificat (Mary's song of praise from Luke) the 'O Antiphons' are used. (An Antiphon is a shared response that all the congregation join in). Each night uses a different theme, taken from the phrse ERO CRAS, which is latin for "Tomorrow, I will come". Each letter from the phrase is used to describe a different aspect of Jesus; each antiphon a name of Christ, or one of his attributes mentioned in Scripture:

December 17: O Sapientia (O Wisdom)
December 18: O Adonai (O Lord)
December 19: O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)
December 20: O Clavis David (O Key of David)
December 21: O Oriens (O Dayspring)
December 22: O Rex Gentium (O King of the nations)
December 23: O Emmanuel (O God is with us)

You get the idea – each day takes a letter (in reverse) from ERO CRAS

E – Emmanuel
R – Rex
O – Oriens

C – Clavis
R – Radix
A – Adonai
S – Sapientia

Cool, huh??

The carol is lyrical paraphrase, and we don’t tend to sing them in order (as such) or necessarily using every verse:

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

O come, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.

O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,
An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall;
All peoples on Thy mercy call.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.


You can spend significant time in Advent meditating on these themes. (Indeed my Advent blogging this year will focus on those seven days from 17 December)

I warmly invite you this Advent to think carefully about Jesus, his first coming as Prince of Peace, but also his long anticipated return as King of All. We join with countless saints who have whispered the petition, ‘O Lord, come... come tomorrow even... come now...come’

Indeed, Maranatha!

Life's Healing Choices

My cousin, Chris Drury (check his blog here), is the pastor at Lancaster Free Methodist Church. I get updates on Facebook from him/the church and am envious of the series they are going through at the moment on 'Life's Healing Choices'. Check out the blogs and websites for more information.

Today Chris said the following:

"Several people have commented on yesterday morning's message being really helpful, and so for those who wanted them here are the 7 Steps to Change to go with Romans 12:2 - "Don't copy the behaviour & pattern of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think."

I. Focus on changing one defect at a time: Proverbs 17:24 ...
II. Focus on victory one day at a time: Matthew 6:11
III. Focus on God’s power not my will-power: Phil 4:13
IV. Focus on what I want, not on what I don’t want: Phil 4:8
V. Focus on doing good, not feeling good: Gal 5:16
VI. Focus on people who can help me, not hinder me: 1 Cor 15:33
VII. Focus on progress, not perfection: Phil 3:13-14 "

Now I've not yet had chance to listen to the sermon - but these seven points are incredibly helpful on a day when I'm feeling flat! Thanks, Chris.

Ration your prattling...

Visited my childhood church this morning...woah!...what a lot's changed: people, pews, worship, ages (for instance, how is it possible that my ancient sunday school teacher is a) alive, and b) even more ancient...she must be impossibly old now)


Sadly, I feel prompted to blog after this service for negative reasons. Now I realise this is my personal take, and the minister I'm describing does not have the opportunity to speak back (to try and protect identities I've not named the church or minister, although I will establish they are male), but I think it important for my ongoing reflection to think through what I experienced. I am also, and as always, open to criticism myself - or even a response from the unnamed minister.

So my problems were as follows:-

1. The minister led the entire service - not leaving the 'stage' at any point, and throughout the nearly hour and three quarter service he spoke at length. Now, please don't get me wrong, some churches do have a lack of leaders, but clearly this is a church that both in the past and present have people perfectly capable of leading.


2. As I've said, the chap was far too wordy: he said too much too often

3. He remained stood by the lectern throughout all the sung worship and, as a consequence of his proximity to the singers, appeared to be part of the band. I saw no reason for his continued presence on 'stage'. It gave the impression he was simply hanging around for this quick activity, that he couldn't wait for the music to finish. He was also positioned immediately below the screen so that it wasn't even like he was out of your eyeline. For me, this was distracting. As a worship leader it makes me think afresh about how us 'leaders' look...are we distracting or enabling.

4. He led and preached. Again, this is unavoidable in some churches...or is it? I am inclined to think this is lazy - there are plenty of people in every church who are capable of being used by God to simply lead the service - welcome people, explain what will happen, ensure those doing readings or prayers get up, etc...you need no theological background to lead a service - but it might mean we have a break from the same person - and if a member of the congregation is likely to be a great encouragement. I think it is far better to have different people lead and preach. I was (frankly) tired of listening to the minister by the time he started his sermon.

5. Prior to the sermon however he did two mini-sermons in prayers! This is something I have often been accused of - long prayers that become theological treatise. This can be especially damaging after a sermon when the leader starts to pray their own sermon, or qualifies what's been said. There is a difference of course, in taking the sermon issues and praying into them, asking God to teach us, but another thing entirely to say 'new' things. Before the sermon even started the minister prayed two long prayers that whilst addressed to God included lots that (even to my visitor's ears) sounded like rebukes and reminders to the congregation. For example, "We know Lord that you call us to deal with one another in open and honest ways not gossipping behind one anothers' backs..."(just an example).

6. The longest pre-sermon prayer came at the start of free prayer, which stunted any congregation participation. A good while into the service, the minister invited the congregation to join in a period of open prayer, including prayers in mother-tongues. I was quite excited by this all member participation. However, the minister launched into a long personal prayer that felt preachy in tone (see point 5). When finished there were a few prayers from the congregation that didn't amount to the same length as his...and I wondered if his 'professional' prayer dissuades people...?

7. The sermon itself was one of the first I've observed for quite a while that wasn't either scripted or at least thoroughly planned with a definite explicit structure. Again, this might simply be a personal homiletical (theory of sermons/preaching) point of view, but despite this my rule of thumb failed. This rule of thumb is simple: can you explain the theme of your sermon in one sentence? I could not answer this question, nor my Mum, or my aunt. The sermon was long - easily over 30 minutes; repetitive; and neither narrative or exegetical. I think I could see where he drew his theme from the passage (Romans 5:1-11) but I struggled...

8. At the end of the sermon he prayed the ending prayer, we sang a final song (he stayed on stage), he read verses from Jude (vv.24-25) and the service ended. But instead of retreating from the lectern he just stood there... Again this may just be personal preference, or maybe by this stage of the service I was so cheesed off anything he might do would annoy me...I don't know. Either way, it was yet another example of the need for less of him. Had he stepped back two metres and sat on the chair, or dropped off the stage and sat on the front row, or even immediately moved to the back of church to greet those leaving...I don't know...something, anything that might clear my field of vision...

All in all I left feeling really disappointed. The minister did not minister to me, in fact he came across as deeply insincere, not least when during the sermon he invited the congregation to speak with him afterwards about his failings. This was delivered in such a spirit of insincerity as to have almost felt arrogant, by which I mean, it sounded like he would welcome criticism, but doubted a) that there would be any, and b) that any criticism was a reflection on the other person... When I go to church, I've realised I want to have space to meet with God, worship Him alone, to see my church family ministering to one another, and to hear God clearly from His word. I do expect ministers/pastors/vicars to be professionals, but I am not attending a show.

...phew...

Now....this minister may do all of this without being aware of anything being amiss. It could also be entirely likely that I am fundamentally wrong and getting my knickers in a twist over things that only annoy me.

So, let me rephrase this entire blog - maybe God was simply making me mad about those things I see in me. Am I too often the centre of attention in worship? Am I too wordy? Am I inprecise when speaking in public? I hope not to all of these. Certainly, I felt like certain 'rules' crystallized in my mind:
1. No one person should be visibly present on stage for the entire service - a surreptitious chair placed off centre might even suffice
2. The key is simple, straightforward speach. Every link need not be accompanied by deep explanation. I think this is part of a life lived in simplicity.
3. Let the worship band - if you have one - lead worship. Noone wants to hear or watch you sing - step off stage and enjoy the way the band/individuals lead the congregation.
4. A second voice is critical - you should always try to have a second person lead the service.
5. Prayers are not sermons!
6. Let people pray if you want them to - don't put people off with 'professional' prayers. In my experience people are not inspired by long prayers, they are intimidated.
7. Sermons must be easily and precisely explained, even if they are long - what is your theme?
8. You should step away from the stage as quickly as possible after the service, either to minister or meet & greet.

Harumph...having said all of this I'm probably wrong. I'm not even sure why I'm blogging about it...just got me all worked up.

Gain, riches and the path of a disciple

Check this collect for today:

O Almighty God,
whose blessed Son called Matthew the tax collector
to be an apostle and evangelist:
give us grace to forsake the selfish pursuit of gain
and the possessive love of riches
that we may follow in the way of
your Son Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of
the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Unsurprisingly, 21 September is the Festival of Matthew, the Apostle and Evangelist.

The morning office readings this morning included Elijah's first encounter with Elisha, whom Elijah finds ploughing with 12 yoke of oxen - 24 oxen - no small outfit then. But when called by God, Elisha in addition to saying farewell to his parents (1 Kings 19:20), slaughters the oxen, boils their flesh and distributes the food to the people (v.21) WOAH!!

It's one thing to follow God with one eye on the past, or better still a career to fall back on.

It's another thing entirely to destroy the tools of your trade. What would Elisha do if Elijah turned out to be a charlatan, or if the road was too demanding and he tired of service?

What an utterly profound and challenging example!

Matthew (or Levi to his friends?!) did the same:
Jesus, "Follow me!"
Matthew, "Okay"

No conditional response, no pre-nuptial agreement, no mission statement or values to sign up to, no action plan, no insurance, nothing - he simply followed.

When we choose to follow Christ we are called to a life whole-heartedly devoted to Him. We are to step out in faith. And for many of us a life lived under the Lordship of Christ involves a life of sacrifice - we are asked to put aside our ambition, our life plan, our careers, our livelihood...

Which is why the collect today gets to the heart of discipleship - the way we follow.

"Give us grace to forsake the selfish pursuit of gain
and the possessive love of riches"

Ouch! - are we, this day, more concerned with personal financial gain, or the acquisition of stuff?

It's a simple question.

Do we trust God, or do we trust ourselves?

Do we follow with one eye on Jesus and another on our capacity to ensure we have a pleasant life, full of the nice things? Or instead, do we walk in grace setting aside ourselves and placing Christ on the throne - following Him wherever he leads.

As we vow in Marriage - "for richer for poorer"

Obedience to God's will

I like it when God speaks very clearly to you in the Bible. Today feels like one of those days.

The three passages for morning prayer today were Psalm 77, Jeremiah 43, and Mark 3:19b-end.
The final passage ends with Jesus stating, "Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother" (Mark 3:35). Knowing God's will can sometimes prove tricky - we pray and seek guidance, hoping that He will make plain his path for us.

However, I think we get rather hung up on the unknowns for shame of our disobedience in the knowns. We are all guilty, me especially, of simply not doing what I know I should.

Jeremiah was faced with a similar situation. The remnant of the people of Judah had watched their puppet king/governor, Gedaliah, assassinated. (I want to write more about the brilliant drama from Jeremiah 35-45 in a later blog) In response to the assassination the ring-leaders of the insurrection come to Jeremiah and ask him to seek God's will. However, they had already decided what God's will should be for them. The Babylonians were bad, and posed an ongoing threat to those who remained in Judah. There was the chance they might come back and take more people away. Therefore, what was more obvious than the need to retreat to Egypt? It makes perfect sense.

"No!" - says Jeremiah. God asked the people to simply stay put, live in the land (Jer 42).

But this is not good enough - say the people. Indeed, they accuse Jeremiah of lying - of inventing the prophecy, which is rank lunacy when you consider how spot on Jeremiah had been up until then.

But isn't this so often the case. We hear the command - we fail to act. And the failure is so often because we don't like the command - it doesn't fit in with our agenda, or our understanding of the situation. It isn't, as we like to think, that we don't know God's will; we do know it, but fail to walk according to it.

I am so often amazed that I behave in this way. And as I read the Psalm this morning I saw a way out of this pitfall:

"I remembered you, God, and I groaned;
I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.
You kept my eyes from closing;
I was too troubled to speak.
I thought about the former days,
the years of long ago;
I remembered my songs in the night.
My heart meditated" (Psalm 77:3-6, TNIV)

Four simply words that we can use to help us discern, and (more importantly) obey God's will. And in the main it involves remembering how he has acted in the past. When I'm asked for evidence of God I can point to the historical reliability of Scripture, but I also point to my personal, real experience of God's activity in my life.

So we firstly remember (v.3). We take time to make a record of our memories. I, for instance, keep a journal, that is a permanent reminder of all that I have done. The sins especially remind me of my need of God, but his faithfulness and the settled pattern of increased holiness is a precious reminder that God is with me. Each day I commit to setting down on paper what has happened to me, the highs and lows. I think it is also important to 'count our blessings' to simply list and number the myriad ways God provides for us: homes, cars, clothes, food, sometimes good food, health, the NHS, education, free schooling, friends, family, husbands, wives, children, brothers and sisters, Doctor Who (LOL), cinema, music, ale, curries, etc, etc...on it goes. When we enter into worship we should always take with us the profound sense that God is for us; not against us.

Next we meditate. Both on God's word, but also our daily lives. I'm not very good at meditating on Scripture, and I think I need to work on it. However, just lately I've found myself writing my diary with greater purpose. I want to see past the facts and try to see what was going on in my heart and soul when I said this, or did that: meditating on life, if you will. And what I find is that God is constantly at work around me. I have found, for instance, that stopping to record what my wife said to me, and reading more closely into the feeling and emotion that surrounded what she said, can lead to some fairly straightforward insight into how my behaviour has affected her. As a result I can ask God, by His Spirit, to heal, to forgive, to guide, and especially strengthen me to remedy bad behaviours. I also see missed opportunities when I meditate - the person I should have simply chatted with to dispel feelings of sadness and loneliness; the new acquaintance who would have welcomed a discussion about God; the neighbour who needs me to be more supportive...on it goes...

Next we call to mind (the RSV uses this phrase in place of the second remember). This implies something more interogative, which for me means re-remembering. I forget LOADS from my recent past. So as well as writing a diary, I need to re-read it, going back years, months, and even days, as a reminder of how I need God and what I need prayer for. My wife is astonished I remember so little of my past, so I need to do this. Now I'm not advocating a navel-gazing introspection that immobilises us. Introspection of this sought drives us into prayer and praise. We also - I think - become more confident in accepting God's will when we see how our lives are shaped when we do or don't.

Finally, I ponder...which reminds me of the hymn lyric, "ponder anew, what the Almighty can do" (from Praise to the Lord, the Almighty). And I think this is about turning our mind to the challenges that face us now. What can we learn of God's previous faithfulness that might inspire greater trust and confidence in his future activity - even when the way seems dim, or dangerous. We also have to ask ourselves - are there any areas of my life where I am knowingly disobeying God - either his revealed will and purpose for my life, or His Word? If there are then we should apply to our resistence to His will our knowledge of all he has done, not least the work of Jesus on the cross, who presents to us, the perfect example of obedience.

Aggressive Selfishness

I have started to reengage with twitter/facebook since returning from holiday. I must admit that I want to be more thoughtful in the time I give to blogging...don't want to rob my work. So I'll try to be brief.

I'm so disappointed with the state of this country right now. In particular, I am disappointed people are simply rolling over and allowing MPs to try and take a lead on 'fixing' the brokenness.

I was reading James 3 this morning:

"For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder"
(James 3:16)

As I re-read sermon notes from a series on James I heard two years ago by Jonathan Lamb, I came across a line he'd said, which referred to the 'aggressive selfishness' our children see around us. Mindful of all that's happened, I can't help feeling that in so many ways we are reaping what we've sown.

And the envious ambition is everywhere:

MPs seek to line their own nests...and I don't care a jot if they were "operating within the rules"...they were fundamentally selfish, seeking to create their very own safe and comfortable existence. Some MPs are noble and full of integrity...but what we saw was very VERY few who had not claimed unfairly.

Our Bankers and Financiers seek such gargantuan rewards, such enormous bonuses, such inflated salaries as to make me blush. (Okay...so do footballers...but they have a very simple conundrum...beat the opposition, stay fit, don't sleep with your best mates wife....) Bankers are guilty of envy and selfish ambition because of the risks they were prepared to take.

Then there's the press - the guardians of truth - the exposers of falsehoods. Have they led by example? No. Again...some are deeply honest, but what concerns me is the degree to which it is those at the top, who allow bad men and women to do bad things. And why? Why might media barons be so quick to turn a blind eye? For profit - surely that is the truth, and our spirits know it. Some journalism is fact finding, but papers are sold to make profit. Financial gain...

And this sense of personal financial gain is so often why the police themselves, our law enforcers, can agree to take back-handers, bungs, etc.

But I wonder, those of us who've watched on. Did our MPs, our Bankers, the Press, etc...did they have serious consequences to face? Not really no. MPs largely kept their jobs, some not even having to make statements to the House of Commons; Bankers, well the Government decided to bail them out, making me and you liable for their excesses and risk taking; the Police, the Press...no there will always be bent coppers, and a devious press.

So is it...really...any wonder that our Young People should behave as they've done; these Young People who have witnessed this aggressive selfishness with no consequences?

Now, please don't get me wrong. The looting, stealing, burning, (apparently) raping, and rioting are despicable actions.

But how dare, how VERY dare our leaders sit in judgment on a generation that is, largely doing what it has seen others do around it: acting out of selfish ambition with no fear of consequence.

James describes envy and selfish ambition as a form of wisdom, but not from God. This wisdom is "earthly, unspiritual, of the devil" (James 3:15). Or to put it plainer, of the world, the flesh and the devil.

Now, I don't want to try and seek some moral high ground. I am just as guilty of selfish ambition, and of envying other people's possessions and homes. But I daily commit to live in the power of the Spirit, which is a gift from God as a consequence of my being 'in Christ'. And the Spirit wants me to grow a totally different type of fruit:
- Peace-loving
- Considerate
- Submissive
- Merciful
- Fruitful (a reference perhaps to the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22ff.) or of being effective in ministry
- Impartial
- Sincere - not a hypocrite. (Taken from James 3: 17)

These, surely, are precisely the types of attitudes and behaviours we want to see on the streets and in the communities around our country? But the truth is, as the Bible testifies, that these cannot be generated, or at least sustained, by good-will alone. A government think tank will not enable us to live like this. We are sadly at the mercy of Satan and his attempts to destroy us, the world and it's value-system of money, sex, and power, and then our own weakness and fraility that renders us impotent to face down these challenges...

I am looking for God's people to stand up and very simply say: "society is broken, and that's because we are ALL broken. There is noone who can save himself, or us. Noone, but Jesus that is. Let me tell you about him?"

To conclude (and I am sorry for ranting and probably saying some things people will deeply disagree with) I have felt myself singing the words to this song as a response this last week. This is my prayer as we step out in faith:

Restore, O Lord
The honour of Your name
In works of sovereign power
Come shake the earth again
That men may see
And come with reverent fear
To the living God
Whose kingdom shall outlast the years

Restore, O Lord
In all the earth Your fame
And in our time revive
The church that bears Your name
And in Your anger
Lord, remember mercy
O living God
Whose mercy shall outlast the years

Bend us, O Lord
Where we are hard and cold
In Your refiner's fire
Come purify the gold
Though suffering comes
And evil crouches near
Still our living God
Is reigning, He is reigning here

Restore, O Lord
The honour of Your name
In works of sovereign power
Come shake the earth again
That men may see
And come with reverent fear
To the living God
Whose kingdom shall outlast the years

Graham Kendrick & Chris Rollinson
© 1981 Kingsways Thankyou Music