Reflecting Jesus

When we were on Lindisfarne we visited a community for their lunchtime prayers, which were very sincere but left us feeling something was missing. We also visited a small church to look around. There was stuff there that had been inspired by radical men of God, but it was a dead building.

When we came outside we looked out and saw Cuthbert's island just off the shore, and the sun was reflected in the waves.

Beckie commented that is how we should be:

The sun itself is too bright and powerful to look at, but the water reflected the sun as we should reflect God. People should be able to look at us and see God. It's not about monuments and rituals, its about living and moving faith.

mixing religions

When we went to Lindisfarne we looked in a small church on the island. They had all sorts of leaflets and newsletters there for information. What really upset me was to find one describing how a group of Franciscans had gone on a retreat in Thailand with a load of Buddhists and were learning the Buddhist way of meditation. I stood there muttering under my breath "that is wrong, that is so wrong" until Beckie told me to shush. I admit I took the newsletter without paying for it as I intend to write and ask them what on earth they are up to. These people even had a symbol which was a cross and a lotus flower. I hate it.

So, what is the big deal? Is this just a bee in my bonnet? What is wrong with multi-faith stuff in our tolerant modern society.

Well. I reckon you either believe Jesus or you don't.
Jesus said "I am the Way and the Truth and the Light" "No-one comes to the Father except by Me".
That does not leave much room for other faiths does it?

Also, if there are other options, why did Jesus have to die?
In Gethsemane He prayed "Father, if possible, take this cup from Me". If God knew mankind could be saved just as well through Buddhist meditation I am sure He would have answered that prayer and sent angels to rescue Jesus.

Paul has stuff to say that is relevant to multi-faith stuff too.
He said you could not eat at the altar of demons and the table of the Lord.
He said don't be un-equally yoked to unbelievers.
He was harsh to the Galatians who had been adding other beliefs to the gospel they had been taught.

James said a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. What is more double minded than trying to marry two faiths?

It is not just Buddhist's I disagree with. I know Jesus is the way to God.
If I did not believe that I would not be a Christian.
As I do believe that I cannot accept that other faiths, whatever they may be, are "just as good".
I know Jesus and have chosen to give my life to Him.
What on earth these monks and nuns who have also given their lives to Jesus are thinking of, I cannot imagine.

Do you do church?

When we were away on Lindisfarne we saw a house which is used as a Christian retreat, and they had a notice up saying anyone was welcome to join them for noon prayers, so we did.

They had a very simple chapel, very small with about a dozen chairs and a driftwood cross at the front.
The service was all about the cross and about Jesus carrying our burdens. They had prayers for those with heavy burdens and for the needy ones in our society.
It was very lovely, and there was nothing I disagreed with, but it all came from a book.
When we came away we all felt that there was something missing.
They knew the form of Christianity, but we knew the life of it.
They prayed for the victims of society, we meet them and often live or work with them.

When I came home I found we had visitors, two lads were staying with us for the weekend. One has just found Jesus and the other says he is an atheist.
These lads fit in quite well really, they have a laugh with the other folk living in the house and they enjoy the culture and join in the worship on the noisy songs.
Something niggled me though.
I wondered, are we introducing these lads to Jesus, or just the Jesus Fellowship?
Do we want them to learn to do what we do? Or do we want them to find real faith in Jesus?

Wether it is following the prayers in the book
Wether it is fitting in with the scene
If we are just "doing church" we are missing the point.

Lindisfarne

I have just got back from 2 days away on a pilgrimage to Lindisfarne. Back in February last year I felt a real need to do something to re-affirm my celibacy and to build with celibate sisters around the church. That's when I came up with inspiration to go away to Lindisfarne on the anniversary of my vow and spend some time deliberately with Jesus and other celibates.

Planning it was well scary as I am not someone who normally initiates doing stuff. Also, loads of the people I asked could not make it 'cos there is so much else on in the church in August.
Anyway, we got it sorted, and decided to travel overnight to get there and book a second night at the campsite so that we had two full days plus a day travelling home.

I was so blessed by the sisters I went with, we really found we were of one heart together. We got to do all we wanted to, and no-one was tugging to do something different.
We did not spend a lot of time being deliberately holy, but a lot of our conversation was about God and the church and just sharing our hearts in a naturally spiritual way.

Friday morning I did go down to the beach on my own to spend some time with God. To start with I just wandered along the sand speaking in tongues. Then I started to offer God some of the things I was worried about, and some of the things I felt He was talking to me about.
I went to sit on the edge of the dunes and really felt a strong and affirming presence of God. I felt He was saying "I want to Father you".
I sat there and sobbed and cried out of love for God.
It was very healing.
(and I was so glad there was no-one else about!!!)

Thought it was nice to spend time together I was thinking it would be a shame not to talk to anyone else while we were there.
On Friday we had about three chances to talk to people who asked who we were and what were we up to, and we also got to talk to people on the campsite too before we left on Saturday. Having a Jesus Army painted car does break the ice somewhat!

The scenery on Lindisfarne is so beautiful, so wild and unspoilt.
We also had really good weather- warm enough to go about in a t-shirt and slightly cloudy so no-one got sun burned.
I came away feeling really refreshed and at peace somewhere deep inside.

RAW

We had RAW (Real and Wild) over the last few days. For me this was not so much of a "wow, amazing!" time as it was last year, but God did speak to me about some stuff....

I went to the girls only seminar on Saturday. They were talking about being a woman of God, being holy, not gossiping, and about sex and relationships. This was not stuff I felt I needed to hear for myself as I am pretty sorted on all those issues, but I wanted to hear what was being said to be able to pass it on to other younger sisters.
Anyway... at the end of the seminar I was pondering on things and I realised that I was not as free of one past relationship as I thought I was. I realised that I still wanted a piece of this person and that this was something I need to pray about.

On Friday it was quite a hard day, I was doing catering which I do enjoy. Last year I was in the kitchen with someone I did not know and we had a great time chatting and getting to know each other. This year the sister I was with did not want to chat at all, so I was disapponted about that. When I came to join in with the activitites afterwards I found it hard to find a group to join. There were folk I was able to chat with for a few minutes, but then they moved on and got on with whatever they were doing. In the evening meeting also it was hard to find someone to be with.
This all reminded me of how when I was younger I used to sit and watch other kids playing rather than join in. Mostly they did not want me to join in anyway. That memory is something else to pray into.

On Saturday I was not going to go on my own, but the errands I was going to do instead did not work out, so I decided to go. At lunchtime I planned to go down town to try one of the errands again. Just as the morning session ended a sister came to talk to me, she said "I have always noticed you in meetings and wanted to spend time with you, can we have lunch".
That was really amazing, and I had a lovely time chatting to her. I guess God was already starting to answer the stuff He had put His finger on

the best you can do for God

We had our annual church convocation on Saturday.
There were lots of business figures to go through, and also folk sharing about how the church is doing, and the prophetic word from the apostolic leaders.

One thing I got from all the business stuff was that every employee in our business is worth much more than just the wages they bring in. The "kingdom value" of what we do (wages earned, profits gained, paid time released for ministry) is 2 or 3 times than many of us would expect to be able to earn in an outside job.
So, at the times I think "I could do better than this", the truth is that I probably could not 'cos to earn the equivalent in another job would mean giving a lot of time and energy to the world, which I do not want to do.

The theme of "could I do better than this?" came up again later on in a different way.
One of the leaders was sharing about the need to have vision and for the Holy Spirit to have free reign in us.
There is so much we do which grieves the Holy Spirit. So much we do which is just naff, pointless, mediocre, missing the point. Wether it is trudging through meetings in a half-hearted manner; or spending an evening watching a video 'cos it is easier than building relationships; or letting prayer and Bible times slide in preference to more time in bed; or chatting about nonsense for fear of being "intense" or.....

General Booth from the Salvation Army chose that all there was of him should be given to God.
Jim Elliot (missionary and martyr) said "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose"
William Carey (missionary from Kettering) said "Believe great things from God, attempt great things for God.

These were men who had passion and vision and were not content to waste their lives on small things. The blunt truth is that anything not done for God is a waste of time.

I have been thinking about mortality a bit recently.
I am young; I have not known bad health; there is long life in the women on both sides of my family. So .... I presume I have a long life ahead of me and I am kind of happy with the rate I am running for God.
But what if my life was to be cut short? Would I run faster if I knew I only had a set time left?
Maybe I ought to be running as fast as I can 'cos no-one ever knows how long they have got?

And if the idea of sprinting through life like a super-hero of the faith is a bit too much?
Mother Teresa said "better to light a candle than to curse the dark".
Better to take one more step forward, to make even a small improvement, than to give up and do nothing.

luke warm

We had a very convicting Sunday meeting about being lukewarm, and it has been followed up at home too.

What got to me about it was this:
It made me think about whether I really do want to live this life, or whether I just like talking about it.
It also made me think about whether I want to live this life the way I do, or whether there is more to get out of it.

Apparently the only time the word "lukewarm" is in the Bible is in Revelations 3.

But there is loads about being half hearted or insincere
Jeremiah talks about people whose hearts are far from God
Hosea talks about people whose repentance is insincere
Jeremiah also talks about people who know what they ought to do but only make a half hearted attempt at it
Isiah talks about people who worship but their hearts are not in it

I know life is not always bouncy and fun, and there is a right sense sometimes of just keeping on pushing through BUT if everything is always a slog then something is going wrong.

I figured, I love Jesus, and I know He is amazing, so every worship time I want to let Him know how much I love Him. If I can't be bothered then I can't really love Him that much.