Repentance clears the air and creates a climate ready for change

My friend Rob, knows me well enough to send me interesting links when he comes across them. This morning he sent me a link to “The Register” [ a tech site which covers many scientific areas through a very healthy and skeptical lens ] where an article reports on yet another scientist who has spoken out about the great swindle known as anthropogenic climate change [ or global warming as it used to be know before reality began confounding the  alleged 'data'] and the attendant fear and media manipulation which goes along with it. The politicians will be beginning to revise their dance steps soon.

Bet you the credit crunch makes it totally inappropriate to pursue long term goals on climate change until short term economic stability has been achieved……….

Well done Dr John Theon!

That was the week that was…

No – it’s not a return to the political satire of the 60’s…just the way it feels. It’s Monday again and whilst Louise is out counselling, I take time to catch up on the many blogs I read, the web forum to which I contribute, monitor the activity on FaceBook and also do some more of my reading. Currently listening to Graham Ord’s  “Waiting”.

Well I’ve had a lovely time since last being here.

Jasciah was a really rich experience and we felt able to encourage one another. We had two ‘new’ recruits who we’ve known for a while but not seen regularly over the past four years. It was so good to see that some of  the things we’d felt we should bring, spoke directly into the lives of these newbies who received comfort and exhortation in what is proving to be difficult times for them. Some of those coming didn’t know we’d have these others with us which makes the Holy Spirit even more amazing. They’re coming again this week [ tomorrow ] & we look fwd to being updated on how things have been for them. We are also expecting two visitors so it will be a busy time. Our numbers have gently grown – as have we all – and the Mem Sahib and I have taken the plunge and ordered a replacement for our aging table and chairs. We bought our current set second hand in 1982, so we’ve not done badly there.

My parents bought a Wii last Monday. I installed it on Tuesday evening, re-set it on Wednesday evening and am looking fwd to seeing and hearing h0w they get on. They loved ours. It’s amazing just how physical that kit is. The Mem Sahib and I wore each other out a couple of times – mainly by ignoring the Wii message “Maybe you should rest now” ! Lol!!

On Friday we held part one of our pilot run of  “The Marriage Course”. We have felt for a while [ The Mem & I ] that we should work to encourage & strengthen marriages. We know ours is by no means perfect and that we’ve certainly had some desperate times,[ including a wee spat yesterday - now fixed!]  but we DO know how the Lord will turn around these situations when we offer Him the broken things of our lives so that He can pour His rightness into us and them. So last year in early Autumn we attended a traning session, bought the materials and spent some time  [off and on] talking and praying about how we’d do the Bizz. It is reccommended that you first run a pilot course with friends so that you can work out the mechanics of how the course goes to fit your circumstances and then you can iron out the wrinkles [ did you see the spiritual allegory there ?] before the real candidates come along. So part one last Friday with two couples we know well. Tonight we look at part two, so that we are ready for this coming Friday. Great stuff!

My cold and nasal congestion has at last receded. Actually the bulk of the work happened at choir practice last Thursday. Amazing what a bit of “Gloria in excelsis!” can do for you. We are rehearsing Handel’s Coronation Anthems and Dvorak’s Mass in D. They are wonderful and when you read and sing the words as a believer…..bingo! Love it! I’m now looking fwd to singing more with a guitar friend of mine and encouraging him.

On Saturday we went to ‘Keswick in Buckie’. Heard a CoS minister called Dominic Smart from Gilcomston deliver a really refreshing take on Ecclesiastes and materialism. It tied in superbly with the book I’ve just finished  [ on Sunday morning ] called “Desiring God – Meditations of a Christian Hedonist” by John Piper. I’ve said before that this book has been a bit of a wonderland for me. I’ve just read and re-read so much of it with my bible in one hand, going back and forth over the references…. and it’s taken me the better part of nine months to get through it. It’s the first book I’ve read where the Appendices are as vibrant and rich as the main body of the text. Piper is a superb theologian who makes everything real. With him you sense he is speaking from experience and knows the reality of what the Scriptures declare. Not for him any woolly Johnny-come-lately vogue that supports a secular mindset with a fish badge on it, but rather how we can live within the framework of the Word in right relationship with a Lord & Saviour that can be fully enjoyed and that enjoyment can and does inform our enjoyment of all other aspects of our life. Read it [ online free ] – if you dare be challenged!

Sunday -  I had a lie-in and finished the Piper book, then we popped off to our friend’s church where they were delivering the message that morning. Good to see an interactional message involving the people in the CoS. I often think that in some ways, the CoS are way ahead of evangelical charismaticism in being open and experimental with how the leadership engages with the flock. Many of us could learn by visiting other fellowships of  a different stripe.

Now started …Oh read the “Currently Reading” box at the right of the post…..

In the afternoon we had the great privilege of undergoing some grand-parental training as we looked after the three year old offspring of some friends. After two hours we were happy to deliver a tired wee toottie to her home, several ducks, swans, ice and ‘Maisy’ library books later. I think we were pooped too! The m-i-l was over for lunch too. Usually a welcome visitor, and Sunday was no exception. It’s always good to see her tucking in to the offering! Oh bless!

..and so to 5.30pm on Monday. I’m now off to the kitchen. It’s my turn to cook and tonight is lamb chops with rosemary accompanied by garlicpasta and whatever else is in the fridge …might be haggis, whiskas or mediterranean vegetables!

Surfacing.

What a week that’s been. I’ve had this wretched virus again which just took my legs from under me. I won’t distress you with the symptomatic list but if you know me, you’ll know that when I miss work, don’t eat much & loll around the house that I’m really unwell & no kidding.

But  -  you know what?? I’ve had a brill week. I’ve done so much reading & praying & playing praise on my guitars  [ between sneezes....must clean those guitars down now ] & writing, that I feel really really blessed. I’m not saying I’ve spent every part of every day focused  on the divine, but I have spent a lot of quality moments in that place where I know I’m in touch.

Today’s devotional centred on Song of Songs 8 vs 6 & 7… Set me as a seal on Your heart, as a seal on Your arm; for love is strong as death. Jealousy is cruel as the grave; its flames are flames of fire, a flame of Jehovah.
Many waters cannot quench love, nor will the rivers overflow it. If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be scorned.

and it just spoke to me of the eternal nature of God’s love for me. If I’m on His heart then I’m there forever. Brilliant! Not to mention the fact that the Lord’s love is beyond bulletproof, resisting our frailty & variability, but also standing strong beyond death, fire, flood & wealth. Nothing can separate me from the heart of the Lord. Sounds like another verse eh!? Check out Romans 8 now & read it aloud to yourself. Woohoo!

Also noticed just how much my Mem Sahib does for others. She’s been in & out like one of those Bavarian cuckoos in a clock to meetings, coffee times, taxi runs and foraging for food. What a lovely Lady! It’ll be at least a week before I’m sarcastic about house work again……

Hey! I also bought another music album by Graham Ord. About two years ago the Mem Sahib bought his album “Waiting” which became my all time favourite quiet time music for when I just wanted to sit & reflect & pray. But I wanted more. Surprisingly I’ve been meaning to search Google for about two months now & did it yesterday. I downloaded the album “Chill” for a bit over a fiver & am loving that too. If you’re a guitarist – you are missing something. Go to the website, check out the samples, buy the albums …. but even better, Mr Ord makes the chord charts & lryics freely available! HERO!!!

Also been enjoying the Facebook experience. It should come with a timewarning on it. It’s very easy to lose an hour here & there if you’re not very careful. I’m now down to just checking it every three hours or so!

Today I’m hoping to make use of the lovely clear, dry, sharp weather & go out for a walk between Hopeman & Burghead. That should clear up my nose!

PerMissional Exhortation – why not subscribe?

Missional House Churches, Part One “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” (Matthew 9:37). A standing concern over the recent emphasis on housechurching, especially with its strong emphasis on the need for deeper fellowship and more authentic community, is that we might be once again concentrating too much on those already saved, fixated on catering to their emotional, social and edification needs, getting too ingrown, becoming less missional, and ignoring the enormity of the Great Commission and today’s harvest. Some might even warn us, that the Scripture says to, “Pray to the Lord of the Harvest,” (Matthew 9:38) not, “Pray to the Lord of the Fellowship.” So, is there a sense of caution here about too much fellowship, too much navel gazing, too much community? Rethinking Fellowship I don’t think that the emphasis on housechurching is a Great Commission problem if we constantly rethink the goal of fellowship, the goal of community.  When we remind ourselves that purpose of gathering as believers is mutual edification (Hebrews 10:24, 25), and the exposure to the multi-faceted giftings of a local body then the exposure to true and authentic community actually can help produce happier and healthier saints. Who in turn are naturally more effective as living witnesses to their world. I have wondered for a long time whether our classic emphasis on Matthew 28; Mark 16, Luke 24; John 20; Acts 1 and the Great Commission has been all that effective in motivating people to evangelize effectively. I do believe in a Great Commission, in The Great Commission, and I desire deeply an empowered, living community of faith that embodies and incarnates that message of Jesus to the world. I just wonder how much of the power of that message comes through the latest evangelism trend, over-zealous evangelists or by being rightly related to our Heavenly Father and to His people; the body of Christ? For years as a city pastor I attempted to do everything in my power to help create the kind of unity that would emulate Psalm 133 and fulfill Christ’s High-priestly prayer in John 17. Wondering all along if we would actually have a greater impact on our culture if we got caught truly in love with God and with each other? Father And Me Then You And Me A reread of Jesus’ prayer might reveal a different focal point, “that they all may be one, as You Father are in me,” (John 17:21). Is it possibly putting a greater emphasis on the relationship of intimacy and oneness between Jesus and His Father first, rather than the exclusive inference to the horizontal one of fellowship unity between you and I. First of all, with worldwide Christianity now boasting 37,000 denominations, what a daunting task this horizontal unity presents. I am simply thinking out loud as to whether we may have overstated the horizontal part of this unity and may have missed the greater vertical intimacy that will be followed by the fruit of the horizontal oneness. I do know this, that when the vertical relationship between my Father and I is intact, that automatically sheds light and dynamic on my horizontal relationship with others. I also know that when my relationship of intimacy is broken with the Father it creates a very difficult environment for any true or meaningful fellowship with one another. I have come to call this the “sucking sound of fellowship.” Get some Christians together who do not have a working personal history with God, and their need for community is out of proportion, out of balance, and it screams “community” when the actual need is for intimacy with their personal God to be restored. The migration Christians from fellowship to fellowship is more likely a pilgrimage or search for Him rather than for each other. As we pursue Him, our love, our patience, and our way of being with each other radically changes. The Cadence of Christ I guess what I am saying goes back to my past reference on the classic sequence of Jesus in His own personal ministry in Luke 6:12 – 19. It seems there was a very distinct purpose to the sequential priorities in the life of Christ. (1) He spent the night in solitude (intimacy) with the Father, (2) the morning in fellowship (community) with His friends, and then (3) the afternoon in healing and deliverance (evangelism) with the harvest. I have experienced much inward turmoil over these priorities in my life. So much of my ministry life in the early days was spent in neglect of that Secret Place/Sacred Space with Poppa. Even my fellowship with others that was spotty at best. Much of that seasons was consumed with serving God by serving others, all under the guise of serving the needs of the institutional church. In the end, I outwardly may have achieved the success of numerical growth, but inwardly I lacked a deep fellowship with God, and a deep friendship with others. I always seemed to muster adequate vision beyond me, giving myself to missions, and to outreach in it many forms, only finding the emptiness in doing without knowing the Father or being really known by my brothers and sisters. Back to the sequence of Luke 6, or what I call the Cadence of Christ. When these priorities are in order, things seem to be different. So let me go even further than the just the concern for too much fellowship. I think the priorities are even different than that. First, we spend time, much time with the Father, then time, deep time,  with our friends, not just doing church business, but living in healthy community. And the results of this living in God and with each other will make a far more effective influence on the Harvest field around us. I do want to work harder at being more intentional in my inclusion of the lost in my daily life, but when the mission overrides my relationships with God and my brothers and sisters, I am destined for burnout or bitterness. I am more and more convinced that the best outreach comes through a life that is fulfilled up in upreach (To God) satisfied in inreach (To His saints) and then released in outreach (To the lost). Given that scenario, I want to jump into this new year, and this new season committed to pursuing a new generation of healthy sons and daughters and healthy brothers and sisters who can better reach a lost and drifting society. Our need is not slicker, more media-savvy approaches to evangelism.  The message of Jesus’ redemption is clear; the gospel is and always will be the Good News. The message will not change but it can be seen clearer and better and more distinct when we live it out with God and each other. We are still “in this world,” we are still exhibit A, to make the message more believable by how we live. Or as Daniel Oudshoorn writes, “Therefore, if the western Church hopes to be missional, it must learn to speak Christianly in the midst of Babel. Instead of changing the gospel message the Church must proclaim the gospel in its original form and allow the way it lives to interpret that message. The Christian message cannot simply be employed to provide Christian living with cultural approval. Instead Christian living, coupled with faith in the Holy Spirit, ought to provide the content and meaning of the Christian message. When Christianity is proclaimed in this way then the Church will be equipped to reveal a radical new way of being human in the midst of a western culture. It is the indwelling and embodiment of the Christian story that makes it comprehensible (and perhaps even appealing) to society. It is the actions of the Christian community that exegete the Christian message.” A Prophetic Wanna-Be I have always wanted to be more prophetic than I am, often desiring those laser-beam, precision, end-times words that everyone seems to be seeking. Especially today with the whole world in turmoil. So I am sorry, this is such a simple word. Our finest hour is in front of us, and we will be up for it as we learn to take “baby steps,” in living out our faith. A simple return to the main and the plain of loving God and serving one another by meeting the most of basic of needs in front of us, will return us to the potency and power of our message. Begin by returning to the Father, carving out huge chunks of time, just learning to sit and rest in His presence. Secondly, keep living a life that moves towards authentic community, spending good amounts of time in deeper fellowship with one another, enjoying life as family, as we learn to gather, to eat, to share, to laugh, to pray together, and to genuinely care for each other. Guaranteed, when we do this, our souls will be filled, our lives will be enriched, and the message of Jesus Christ will gain a great credibility in the eyes and ears of our skeptical culture. In His Grip, Gary Goodell Third Day Churches info@thirddaychurches.com