Bread and Wine

I just wanted to write about an amazing vision I had last night. At agape yesterday we had some worship, then dinner and chatting about the questions, then bread and wine last...

As we prayed over the bread and wine I sensed Jesus coming into the room through the door in the corner behind me. I did not hear His voice, but sensed He was saying "I have been looking forward to sharing this bread and wine with you".

As we passed the bread around He stood behind each person and put a firm hand on their shoulder. It was like He was affirming each one and saying "You are a part of my body, welcome".

Then when we took the wine Jesus was passing the cup to each person and looked right into their eyes. I could not picture his face, I could just feel His gaze. He was looking at each person the way He looked at Peter, looking right into their heart and knowing them, and loving them. It was a look of deep understanding.

When we had finished taking the bread and wine I shared this vision with everyone sat at the table. It made me cry to speak of it, and I could hear other sisters begin to weep too. That made me feel like the awe and presence of God was really there with us. I don't know why Jesus wanted to come to us like that last night.

Songs

When we sing certain songs that mean a lot to me I often say "I want this sung at my funeral". Someone once heard me saying that and thought it was really morbid, but I do not think it is really. There are certain songs which speak of seasons when God has really been at work in my life. At my funeral I want people to sing those songs to give testimony to what God has done.

When I was at sixth form college I knew I had become a Christian when I caught myself singing "Father God I wonder" in a biology lesson. Another song which meant a lot to me then was "Servant King". These songs both spoke to me of a relationship with God/Jesus which I never knew was possible.

When I first came around the church the favourite songs at the time included "Happy are the People" and "This is my family" and "Freedom in Jesus". This to me was part of the revelation that the church was God's people and there was a real sense of belonging and finding my place in the family of God.

Later on, around the time when I decided to move into community we were singing "Don't join the rat race" and "Brotherhood love has come my way" and "Well I hear the call to leave all I have behind"

"My first love is a blazing fire" always reminds me of everyone dancing in the living room on the evening I celebrated my celibacy vow. Compared to that "More than oxygen I need your love" reminds me of the week I spent walking up and down the beach in Bournemouth deciding whether to jack everything in.

Fast forward a good few years and the recent songs which have inspired me include "I am free to dance, I am free to live for you" and "Jump Jump". Just 'cos I am enjoying being more free now than I ever have been before.

Anyway... the next few posts will be songs which have really really meant a lot to me

The nature of God?

The other week I made far too much dinner on Tuesday, so because it was made fresh we put the leftover in the fridge for Thursday dinner.

On Thursday we had loads of yoghurt to eat so when someone offered to make a pudding I asked them to bring some cake to have with the yoghurt. There was so much cake that we did not open all the packets and so had cake and yoghurt again on Sunday for pudding.



What has this got to say about God???

Well.... it could be a prophetic demonstration that He provides abundantly for our needs and His nature is eternal and unchanging :-)

Superheroes and Wounded Soldiers

I was talking to someone recently about the people we look up to, and then someone was talking about heroes in brotherhood at work too.

When you are a kid you look up to the superheroes. The Famous Five always caught the smugglers (before mobile phones were invented) and so on.

As you grow up your heroes become a bit more human, and there are plenty presented in the media: The footballer who scored the winning goal, the athlete who won all the gold medals, the singer with all the industry awards. The problem is, under the surface, these people are often not as wonderful as the hype would make out, and to be honest are nothing to look up to. The footballer is now alcoholic, the athelete cheated, and the singer is on drugs.

The brother sharing at work was saying he was on Leicester square evangelising, but having a tough time getting anyone to stop and talk when some famous bloke came out of one of the theatres after a premier. Everyone was screaming and making a fuss over this bloke. The brother said he felt like saying "Hello, I am here and Jesus is here... how about making a fuss for Him"

In church history there are lots of "heroes of the faith". Even folk who went off into the desert to be alone with God found that the crowds followed them. In our day people might want the autograph of a famous person, but the fashion then was to have "relics" in the churches. This means a bone from a dead saint built into the altar or such like.

In our church we look to godly men and women as our role models, but it is no good to put people on a pedestal 'cos they will fall off. There are some people who have a very prominent ministry and could be dubbed "heroes" but some of those have fallen and hurt a lot of people who looked to them as an example.

Myself, the people I look to tend to be the "wounded soldiers". These are the people who have been through battles and are still sticking it out. In celibacy in particular I get more encouragement from people I know have struggled and found the grace to go on than I do from the people who seem to glide along effortlessly.

Healing Worship

It can be hard to worship in our household 'cos we do not have a musician, and even in our local congregation we do not have any amplification. This means that when I go to big meetings I really appreciate the worship.

We have had two big meetings recently, and both times I have found the worship to be a real time of meeting with God.

When we sang "when I survey the wondrous cross" I could clearly picture Jesus on the cross, and the pain as he embraced the world in dying love. I felt God saying he was going to stretch my heart to love more as Jesus loves. In the other deep songs we sang I felt the love of God reaching into my heart and touching attitudes or hurts that He wanted to deal with. It was like the music was a gateway that allowed me to open myself up in a way I would not normally do.

In the more exuberant songs I really enjoyed the chance to dance and jump and shout and express my joy to God for all He has done. It was really freeing to let go of inhibitions and enjoy God. I do not think this is hyperactivity. I think it is good to be able to express yourself to God, and if you can get over self consciousness in a big scene where people can't really notice you then it will be easier to be expressive in the small scene when people can notice you.

In the couple of weeks since these meetings, I have found there are things in me that have changed. I don't want to spell them out here, but I have found myself doing things which I would not have done before- God has done a healing work and I can see the fruit of it. I have not been for ministry or spent hours soul-searching. It really has been that when I was open to meet God through worship He has been able to do His work.

That should not be that surprising really 'cos worship is the place where we meet with God and everyone in the Bible who met with God was changed.

be thou my vision

This Sunday we sang "Be Thou My Vision" which includes the line "Thou my soul shelter and Thou my high tower"
I saw in that how God was providing for us in the hard times.
The shelter is so needed. A place where a soldier can be warmed and fed and rested and restored. A place of safety in the middle of the battle.
The high tower is a safe place but also a vantage point. This is a place to look out and get vision, to impart strategy. A place from which you can see clearly.
I felt God was saying you do not need to run to other comforts when you are stressed or tired, I have provided shelter for you.
He was also saying "I will inspire you, I will lead you and guide you, you do not need the wisdom of the world"

Words

I have been thinking recently how often what we talk about is a load of rubbish. It is convicting to realise how much easier it is to say something stupid/silly/irrelevant rather than something spiritual.

The “wind-up” is a popular form of humour these days- but it tells us in the Bible not to do it.Proverbs “Like a fool shooting fire-brands is one who deceives his neighbour and then says 'I was only joking'”

There are loads of proverbs about foolish talk:

proverbs 10v8 and v 14 proverbs 12v23 proverbs 14v13 and v 7 proverbs 15v2

proverbs 17v28 basically says you could get away with being a fool so long as you keep your mouth shut!

while proverbs 18v2 says how a fool loves to air his own opinion

and proverbs 18 v6&7 say how trouble is caused by foolish speech
and so it goes on right through proverbs

Jesus simply tell us that our yes should be yes and our no should be no. We should speak with integrity and be consistent people.

The Bible tells us that out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.If our hearts are full of love for Jesus then we should speak about Him often, and spiritual topics should fill our conversation.If all we can talk about is TV or films or celebrities then maybe we have been feeding our minds on the wrong stuff and our heart is going astray.I think it was a telling slip of the tongue when a brother asked to sing “I will set MySpace to seek the Lord”

I was gutted recently when I said something stupid to someone as a joke and they took me seriously. It showed me I was not thinking about their feelings, I had not considered they were under pressure and needed up-building rather than teasing. It did not matter that other people were behaving similarly. I have not repeated the story (except to confess to someone at the time) 'cos to do so would not build anyone up.

Someone else told me they had repeated something I had said in a meeting and shared it with their cell-group 'cos it inspired them. I would much rather my words spread because they built people up than because they had torn them down.

Meditation #3

In one of the groups when we tried mediatation, someone brought a tape which we listened to which took us through various steps in meditating. Although the tape was off-putting, what was said was really helpful to me, and conjured up certain images that I would like to think about more.

This is a mixture of the stuff from the tape, and the images in my mind. I hope it will help you too.

The purpose of relaxing into prayer is to enter a state of inner tranquility and there to meet with God, face to face.

God is found when we are silent and at peace, if we are tense or disquieted this inhibits God revealing himself to us.

First of all, bring your body to rest, sit back in your chair, close your eyes, take a few slow gentle and deep breaths.
Next allow your body to rest, start with relaxing your face which gets tense with worry and stress.

Then drop your shoulders if they are hunched, let all the muscles in your body relax, consciously relax each one from your neck down to your toes.

Let the chair take all your weight.

Feel the peace from being totally relaxed.

As you are physically rested, next quieten your mind. Put aside all problems, difficulties and anxieties.

To help to do this, imagine a picture that speaks peace to you, such as sitting by a pool of calm water, or an image of Jesus, or any other picture that helps you.

Is often more difficult to bring our minds to rest than our bodies, so don't get discouraged if it is hard to do at first.

Now your body and mind are at rest, remain in that peace for a short time.

The next step is to become aware of God.

As Christians we believe the living God is within us: Jesus said Abide in me, and I in you. and also if anyone loves me and obeys me I and Father will come and live with him.

We know we have the Holy Spirit living within us.

Turn your attention to God. To stop your thoughts wandering gently repeat "Lord", "Jesus" , "Father" or "God" as you focus your attention.

Hold your attention as you meet God face to face and are in His presence.

Enjoy being with your Lord. Love and adore Him in your heart. Let Him love you.

If your thoughts wander, gently bring them back to God.

(I could imagine God enjoying walking in the garden with Adam, or a couple sat on a bench together watching the sun go down)

Now move to the next step, which is to allow Him to enter into your whole being, and there to do His work within you.

God knows you, knows all about you, nothing is hidden from Him and he loves you just as you are with his perfect love.

He accepts you totally, imperfect as you are, he will work to change you to be more like Him

Now let God into all your life, starting with your thoughts.

Open your thought life to God. Give Him freedom to enter it all. He knows your thoughts; good bad, and useless so let him have freedom to enter into them all ands to work within them.

(This made me think of Jesus sat in front of an old trunk full of scrolls. He was sorting through them all. Some he smoothed out and put away again. Some he wrote something different onto them. Some he gently erased what was written)

Next give him your relationships. The good ones, the indifferent ones, the disturbing ones. He knows them, give him freedom to move into these attitudes to other people.

(As I pictured the faces of different people, I just felt a gentle nudge wether Jesus was sad about the attitude I had to that person)

Next take him into your emotions. Your good and healthy ones, your unhealthy ones, your damaging ones. Let him come into them all. And into your fears, don't run away from them, face them with Jesus and they will lose their power.

Now take him into our sin. the sin we are aware of and the ones we are blind to. He knows them all so don't try to keep him out. Remember you are not condemmed (did not come to judge the world but to save the world). Let Him come into eveything that is sin in you, to cleanse it with the blood, to bring you into more freedom from sins power.

(This made me think of Jesus walking down into the cellar of a house. It was dark and there were cobwebs and dark corners, but as he walked through it was the light he carried that made everything clean. There was no need to poke into the corners to dig stuff out, the radiance of Jesus made everything bright and clean again. It was like a flourescent strip had been used to light up the place and instead of being dingy it was bright white and clean)

Now let him into your inner life, into all your past life, all that has ever happened to you, right back to your conception. Jesus knows about everything that has ever happened to you, so give him freedom to enter into everythign , especially pains, hurts, humilations, rejections that have some to you from the past.

He may have had to stand outside until now so let him in to share and to heal the things of the past.

(I found I did not need to remember specific things. It was like Jesus had a photo album, and some things he was gently removing from it)

Finally take Jesus into your body, into every part, into every cell, especially any parts that need healing.

(I could picture a biology film I once saw of all our blood cells moving through our body, and I imagined the Holy Spirit moving along our blood vessels in the same way, being pumped by our heart and getting into every cell.)

It is what God does in prayer that matters most. Stay resting in Him. Let him speak to cleanse, heal, comfort, encourage or strenghten you.

Try to pray this way regularly and make it a personal way to meet with God.

Meditation #2

This is a set of meditations we did for a cell group.
Try reading one exercise at a time and doing it before you read the next bit.
You might want a kitchen timer or similar so don't get distracted by looking at your watch.

1) Sit in silence for 1 minute.
Don't pray, just sit still and be aware of the presence of God.

2) For 1 minute pray quietly in tongues
(we had to pray in our heads so not to distract the others in the group, but if you are on your own you can pray quietly aloud)

3) For 1 minute meditate on the phrase "God is good"

Before you go onto the next exercises, consider how easy you found it to just be quiet. Was it easier to speak in tongues?
How much did you get from the third exercise?
Were you able to stop thinking about worries and other distractions.
Were you surprised by how much you could get out of 1 minute?
Or by how hard you found it to concentrate for 1 minute?

4) Read the Psalm below.
Pick just 1 line to meditate on for just 5 minutes.
Jot down any thought/comments in the margin

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord is God!
It is he that made us, and we are the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him, bless his name!

For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

When you have done this, stop to consider how you got on.
Did you find it easier being able to write things down?

5) Pick 1 of these Celtic prayers and meditate on it for 10 minutes.
Again jot down notes in the margin that inspire you.

I give my work to you, Lord.
I give my work to you.

I give my plans to you, Lord.
I give my plans to you.

I give my hopes to you, Lord.
I give my hopes to you.

I give my dreams to you, Lord.
I give my dreams to you.

I give my life to you, Lord.
I give my life to you.

I give my love to you, Lord.
I give my love to you.

Keep me true to you, Lord.
Keep me true to you.

In all I say and do, Lord.
In all I say and do.

Help me to serve you, Lord.
Help me to serve you.

O Lord God, Creator of all
Open my eyes to beauty
Open mymind to wonder
Open my ears to others
Open my heart to you

In the quiet of the morning,
In the new day that is dawning,
Thy Kingdom come.

In my waking and my dressing,
in my life and it's progressing,
Thy Kingdom come.

In this moment for the taking,
Un the things that I am making,
Thy Kingdom come.

In the people I am meeting,
In each one I shall be greeting,
Thy Kingdom come.

In my tasks and my employment,
In my leisure and enjoyment,
Thy Kingdome come

All day, until its very ending,
Praise to You I shall be sending,
Thy Kingdom come.

Once you have done these meditations you might like to print off these Celtic prayers, or similar short Psalms or prayers to pin on your wall where you will see them often.
Then you can easily pray and ponder as you go through the day, and so train your mind to gain holier thought tracks!

I really enjoyed doing these meditations with a group so we could share what we found and what we got from the different exercises as we went through them.

Meditation #1

The word "meditation" can be off-putting to a lot of Christians because we tend to think of Buddists or Hindus or New Age type meditation. We tend to shy away from the whole thing out of desire to avoid what could be unhelpful or demonic.

Meditation is actually something that can be very helpful.

This is the dictionary definition:
meditation noun 1 the act or process of meditating. 2 deep thought; contemplation, especially on a spiritual or religious theme. 3 a meditative discourse or literary or musical piece.


For a Christian I would say it is good to think deeply on the things of God.
It is not about letting our minds go blank, but about learning to focus our thoughts on God and to train our thoughts and minds not to run away with us

In the Bible we are told to think on the things of God
We are encourage to be familier with and meditate on God's word
We are told to take every thought captive and so destroy mental strongholds
We are told to love God with our mind as well as with our heart
These are only a few times that the mind is mentioned in the Bible


The Psalms of Ascents are a kind of meditation.
They were sung every year by the Jews as they travelled up to Jerusalem. These Psalms were familiar and were learned off by heart. They reminded the Jews of God's faithfulness over the years. They were a way of teaching children by tradition. They were a way of drawing near to God in worship as they travelled towards the temple.


The Celtic way of life included a lot of meditation. There was a rythmn of prayer incorporated into daily life, and these prayers were often based on the cycle of the seasons or the rythmn of life. The prayers were often short and repeated and helped to find God's presence at all times. Some of the worship at Taize is in a similar style.



Recently we have used meditation exercises a few times in small groups, and it was really good to learn how to stil our thoughts and concentrate on God. It showed us how chaotic our thoughts are, and how simple it actually is to slow down and think on God.

just like jesus

I have posted twice before about what Jesus looks like. If you asked me about that I would probably say it is not important to me, but I've kind of had some of my prejudices about it shown up recently.

I was looking at this clip on YouTube, which is an amazing drama which some young folk from our church did at a main event at the start of the year depicting the struggle over a soul. I was actually quite disappointed to discover it was not original. I then decided to look at some of the other versions, but did not very far 'cos I found myself getting offended at some of the men playing the role of Jesus: Some were fat, or too old, or not handsome, or too handsome, or too amateur, or... just not like I imagined.

This got me thinking: Do I reject Jesus because I do not like the person who is representing Him to me?

Do I get offended if the person bringing a message or a word is too young? or too old? or fat? or needy? or professional? or nervous?

I know it is very easy to be swayed by cultural differences. We might esteem the liberated worship of African churches, but then write off American churches for what we see as their slick performances. Even within the UK we can disregard the established Anglican and Catholic churches and not consider that there may be very sincere believers who do touch with God through liturgy and ceremony.

When I have been to church with a friend of mine (still charismatic, but a different stream) I have found some of their “niceness” very difficult. When she came to our meeting, her husband struggled with leaders wearing hoodies. But we sang the same songs!

Even the apostles in the early church struggled to cope with believers from different backgrounds. Although Jesus had no issues about who he spoke to or ate with, God had to send Peter a vision to prepare him to listen to and go with Cornelius to preach to his household. It was a real dilemma for the Jewish believers to know what to do with the Gentiles who started to believe in Jesus.

Mother Teresa used to seek for the image of Christ in every person she dealt with. On days when she had to deal with really difficult people she would tell the sisters “I met Christ in the most distressing disguise today”.

I don't know if she ever failed to love someone as the image of Christ. I know I do.

purity #4

How do we find purity?

I listened to a song recently that seemed to me to sound like purity was a kind of golden rain that comes down from heaven and makes everything beautiful again.
I do agree that purity is a gift from God, but it is a gift that cost Him a lot and it does also take effort on our part to work it out.

Jesus blood makes us clean.
Right at the beginning God said that someone had to die to pay the price for sin. For centuaries people made animal scarifices again and again to try to keep right with God.
Then God became man as Jesus and did what we could not do by paying the price for us. We can pray for the cleansing power of Jesus blood to be over us to wash away our sins.

Baptism makes us clean.
When we are baptised we share in Jesus death and resurrection. Going under the water is a symbol of how Jesus died and rose again. It signifies that our old life and all it's sin has died and we rise as a new creation in Jesus.
Of course we have to keep choosing to live in the new life. But the truth is we can live a new life, all the old stuff is dead, and we can claim the power of our baptism to put to death the things that keep bugging us from the past.

The Holy Spirit makes us clean.
The Holy Spirit is God the Spirit living in us. God is pure and holy, so if we have the Holy Spirit in us then we have the power to live pure and holy lives. The Holy Spirit is sensitive and so brings a sensitivity to our conscience. We find we do not want to do the things that offend Him, and when we feel that absence of his presence it nudges us to put things right.

purity #3

On Sunday someone said that mixing the world with the church is like mixing ice-cream with horse pooh: The pooh is not much affected, but the icecream certainly is.

So what has that to say about purity?

Well, the church is supposed to be pure and separate from the world, but we let stuff from the world creep in (music, media, attitudes to money, fashion........). A lot of this stuff seems quite subtle or harmless, but thinking about putting pooh into ice-cream I would say that standard should be zero contamination.

When I was studying Food Hygiene I learnt that a lot of the food poisoning organisms are gut bacteria found on food instead of in the guts of the animals they came from. Our EHO explained this “faecal-oral contamination” as “shit on your food”.

Maybe if the church is feeling a bit sick or weak there is some cross-contamination with the world that needs sorting out???

The other way around.... the church is told to affect the world around us like a salty flavour, or like light in the darkness.

Many Christians are busy trying to find subtle ways to affect the world without being too outspoken about their faith incase it offends someone.

But Jesus did not do subtle.We are not meant to be subtle or acceptable. We are meant to be the clear beacon into the darkness.

How are people going to find the church if we have blended ourselves into the world?

Is it not better to be clean and cool icecream rather than a murky half melted mess? Then when people are in need they will find a church that is refreshing and life-giving.

Purity is not "intense" or "super-holy". Purity is how the church is mean to be.

Purity #2

My second pondering on purity comes from a discussion we had at home about holiness/purity/morality.

An illustration was given...
If you are wearing a white t-shirt you are careful to keep clean and you are aware of the smallest spot of dinner you drop down your front.
If you are wearing a dark top you can drop all sorts down your front and will not notice.

Infact, that day I was wearing a black top with a red cross, but I did have food spilled down it. Wearing the cross did not make me clean, the dark top meant the dirt did not show.

What does this mean in practice?
It shows how, if you are setting a high standard you will be aware of every spot and moral weakness and that will send you back to God for His cleansings.
If your standard is not set so high, all sorts of stuff can creep in step by step, and then you end up in a dilema or a big mess and you think “How did I get here???”

I have good friends who have made BIG mistakes. (I do not judge them, I pray to God he will be able to keep working in their lives so it comes good in the end).
I am sure none of these people would have dreamed of doing what they ended up doing, but somehow what they stood for gradually got erroded until they gave up or gave in or made a rash and previously out of character choice.

Someone else said (years ago) that it is easier to stop the car a mile from the cliff than an inch from the edge.
Our attitude should be how high we can set the standard, how much we can show our love for God. Not how much we can get away with.

Talking about standards can sound a bit negative, like you have to make the grade.
I prefer to think about the positives
... to be clean and free to express love to God.
... to be able to relate to others in purity without issues and agendas
... to be able to truly want the best for another person (not to want my own way)
... to be free from fear that untruths we have told will catch up with us
... to be able to worship without vanity, or pride, or self consciousness
... to be clear in your motives
... to be the person people can come to for help in God
... to not be the person they come to when they have a borderline joke to tell
... and so on!

Purity #1

The subject of purity has come up a few times recently in different ways.
Obviously God is holy and pure and he calls us to be like Him. But purity is an over-used word.

Volvic mineral water used to tell us “Purity, not just for the innocent”
We sell “pure” margarine at work which is gluten and dairy free.
“Pure indulgence” has been described as a box of luxury chocolates.
Will these products really bring us purity?

As Christians, when we talk about being purity we tend to think about sex. As if it is our sexual behaviour that makes us impure (or not). Is that all it is about?

The dictionary says:
purity noun 1 the state of being pure or unmixed. 2 freedom from contamination, pollution or unwholesome or intrusive elements. 3 chasteness or innocence.
ETYMOLOGY: 13c: from Latin puritas, from purus pure.

So what does it mean to be pure? Psalm 119 v 9 (RSV) says:
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to thy word.
So is that purity? Following what we read in the Bible down to the last letter?

In Matthew 5 v 8 (RSV) it says:
Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God
So is that the motive for purity? To experience God?

Philippians 4 v 8 (RSV) says:
Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
So... this is the first of a series of ponderings on purity.

AND

When I was reading Colossians recently I noticed one bit where Paul uses “and” several times. It’s like, you have just got the hang of something when there is a bit more, and when you think you have got that sorted, there is more again. I guess all the “ands” stop us from thinking we have got God sussed, there is always more to do, more to understand, more to reach into.
Here is the passage I was reading, it is from the RSV, but I have changed the spacing a bit .Paul has just been talking about thinking on the “higher things” of heaven and therefore putting to death worldly attitudes and opinions and behaviour…

Colossians 3 v 12-17
Put on THEN, as God’s chosen ones,
holy AND beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness,
AND patience, forbearing one another
AND, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive.
AND above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
AND let the peace of Christ rule in your heart, to which indeed you were called in the one body.
AND be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as you teach
AND admonish each other in all wisdom
AND as you sing psalms
AND hymns
AND spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
AND whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

This is my translation:
Because of what I’ve just explained, you can see how you are God’s chosen ones and how you are loved by him.
Because of this you are of course compassionate and kind and lowly and meek and patient with each other.
You are forgiving to each other because you remember how God has forgiven you.
There is love between you, joining you all together.
The peace of God is in you and flows from you.
The word’s of Jesus are always in your heart and on your lips, whether you are teaching or correcting or singing or praising God spontaneously whatever you say or do is always God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
This is not a problem, is it?

CRAP

At the weekend someone made us some T-shirts with the acronym “Christians Ready And Praying” on them. Part of this was as a joke “what do you mean there is a rude word on my t-shirt??” and part of it made me think.

It made me think that I should not have a t-shirt that says I am ready to pray if I am not.

It made me consider wether I do believe prayer to be the answer in all situations.

It also made me think of the situations when I am likely to swear. “Crap” is not a word I would generally use, but I have been know to say “Poo” under my breath when the car stalls in a tricky spot.

If CRAP is my way of life, then I should be ready to pray in the crap situations in life.

At the times something winds me up, CRAP reminds me that the fruit of the Spirit is peace.

When I am stressed, CRAP reminds me that the fruit of the Spirit is patience.

When I need the answer to something, CRAP reminds me that God knows, and also know wether I really do need to know or not.

When I am sick, CRAP reminds me Jesus is our Healer.

When I am worried, CRAP reminds me Jesus is in charge of all our lives and knows the end of the story.

When I am annoyed and ready to swear or thump someone, CRAP reminds me to stop and behave in a more Christ-like manner.

When it seems like the devil is having a laugh and situations smack you in the mouth, CRAP reminds me of the victory that Jesus has won.

All this probably sounds unrealistically holy- floating through with a “Ready-Brek” glow surrounding you, and praising the Lord when you knock your toe on a piece of gravel.

I'm not trying to be a super-saint ... what I am trying to say is that we need to practice being aware of God in our every day lives. Then the first thought that comes to mind probably won't be **** but “Lord Jesus, I need you”

Non conforming non conformist

This church could be described as “non-conformist”. We are not traditional and things like “Jesus Army” make us stand out from the main stream have provoked a lot of opinion/rejection from other churches.

This church is also non-conformist to the standards of the world we live in. Covenant, Loyalty, Community, Simplicity, Celibacy, Godly Marriage. All these things are opposite to the lack of commitment, the consumerism, the greed, the loose morals around us.

I love opposing the standards of the world. I am a non-conformist. I love it when the standards I live to are baffling to the people I talk to. I love it when something comes up that proves to me how different we are.

But within that I do not go blindly along with the flow. I am not a “brain-washed clone”. I know what I believe and I answer to God for my choices. I feel I have been called by God to this church 'cos this is the people I can see are honestly trying to live out what Jesus said. If this church was to lose the plot, then I would not be obliged to stay.

I think we have to be very careful not to adopt a “corporate conscience”. To behave like animals in a herd or a pack and not consider our individual actions.

True, we need to be obedient to leaders and pay attention to the prophetic word. When there are activities that ask for our support it is good to give support.

Also, God more often speaks to us through people around us than by bolts of lightening, so we do need to listen to advice and consider “the witness of the brethren”

Opinions and attitudes and defending our own corner does not build the body of Christ. There is a right measure of putting our self aside for the common good. You might call it “taking up your cross” or “dying to yourself” or “the thorn in your flesh”.

BUT if we don't know what we think, if we don't stop to check our own spirit or conscience then we are on thin ice.

Firstly, if you have made commitments or choices based on what everyone else was doing at the time you will at some point struggle in those choices and without a firm foundation will flounder. It is knowing that God has called me that has kept me strong. As some people say “I know that I know that I know”.

The other thing is... and this has probably been said by opponents of the church... when a large group move in corporate conscience all sorts of crazy things start to happen 'cos people stop asking questions. That's how come you get suicide cults, that's how come atrocities happen. Of course I don't think this church is in danger of such things happening, but I hope you get what I mean.

The golden rule of course is always to check “How does this measure up to what I read in the Bible?” and “How does this match with what I already know about God?”

If we are familiar with what is in the Bible, and if we are in touch with God through prayer or worship then we won't easily go off on a tangent. Sometimes God leads us a way we have never gone before. It's good to check this out, just to be sure it is a “leap of faith” rather than “a leap into the dark”.

Unity of vision and purpose is good.

Conformity is something I would be wary of.

leader, signpost, yardstick

Somebody asked me what “leadership type” I was. I guess they were thinking of the management types like “motivator” “initiator” “starter/finisher” and so on.

To be honest I do not see myself as a leader and I would not want to be seen as such.

I totally believe in the order of things that Paul talks about in Corinthians ie the head of man is God and the head of the woman in man. For me this means that a woman does not have authority over men.

Practically a woman might have some responsibilities that affect men, and I know there are women with prophetic giftings but I would not expect a woman to be leading or teaching men. That still leaves loads of scope for women to be leaders of other women or children or to minister in a supporting role.

The other thing is, I am wary of the title “sister leader”. It makes me think of feminist battle axe sisters with issues who need the badge to boost their insecurities and prove they are “as good as the men” (I am deliberately exaggerating here, but I hope you get the point.) A woman of God who has found her place is not weak but strong in her Godly womanhood and right submission.

So... what do I see myself as?

I hope to be an example. I hope my life would be a bit like a signpost that points the way and encourages people it can be done. I am not “famous” but I hope that in being faithful I can help or inspire other people.

One of the things said at my birthday ministry was that somone saw me as a yardstick, and that in some of the choices they made they considered what I would do. I was gob-smacked, blessed and scared by that!

I was gob-smacked by the person who said it 'cos it was not someone I would have expected to say that.

I was blessed that someone did think my example was worth following.

I was scared 'cos it made me realise the effect we can have on other people.

It especially made me think that I need to be careful not to go back on things I have stood for, 'cos you never know who is looking and needing the strength to stand themselves.

So yeah, all in all I want to life this life to the full and encourage others to have a go and come along with we.

love for the world

Loving the world

We are told in the Bible not to love the world, to live in the world and not be a part of it.

Living that out can be quite difficult because there are some ways you cannot avoid interracting with the world and its system, such as: work or business life; shopping (even if “only for essentials”); education; health care and so on.

There is also stuff which is not bad, but might not really be necessary and could be a distraction: newspapers and books; sports and entertainments; music and the radio.

Then there is stuff that is perfectly innocent, but might just show up where your own heart is at: food and nutrition; clothes and fashion; use of leisure; body care and cosmetics.

Some of the things that tempt me include: Body Shop toiletries, Thorntons chocolate, Hagen Das icecream... You get what I mean? The things are not a problem, but the brands speak of “quality” and “luxury” and you find yourself longing after what the world esteems (or what the advertisers promote) rather than being content.

The society we live in has the motto “please yourself, you deserve it” and huge sums of money are spent on luxuries which are obscene. I can't say that by living simply I can sort out the UK homeless problem or Third World debt, but it is important to stand against the greed and selfishness which feeds these problems. People say “there will never be equality in the world, it is against human nature” and we can say “Yes there can be, we are living in community and simplicity and proving it can be done”.

Another reason for not conforming to the standards of the world around us is that there are people who cannot afford to “keep up” and they feel excluded 'cos they don't have the latest fashions or technology. It is good to be able to show by the way we live that these external things are not important to us and to be able to accept people for who they are. If we do not project an image or hide behind things then people can feel free to be themselves too.

Jesus spoke about not worrying about wealth and possessions and did not even have a home to call his own. He was the most approachable, available and accepting person ever. Just maybe being free from the cares of the world and the love of the world was part of made Him that way???