Mark Ireland's Blog

Chilean Mine Rescue

I have just heard an amazing interview given on Radio Five Live...

God answers prayer. That is the message from the President of Chile’s Protestant chaplain, in a remarkably candid interview to the BBC about the rescue of 33 miners in Chile.
Speaking about the spiritual impact to the miners trapped deep underground in a Chilean desert Reverend Alfredo Cooper described how all the miners testified that Jesus was there with them at all times.
Speaking to BBC Radio Five Live Revd Cooper said that it was clear to “scientists, politicians, presidents” that God answers prayer.
Listen to Revd Cooper on BBC Radio Five Live Drive, with interviewer Peter Allen
Below is the transcript of the interview:
Peter Allen: “Actually there was one gentleman I got a chance to talk to a little bit earlier. He’s the Reverend Alfredo Cooper. I’ll be absolutely honest with you, we heard an English voice down the line and in fact this gentleman apparently had turned up to thank the British press for what they’d done on this whole event and when they heard his English voice they got him in front of the microphone. He’s called the Reverend Alfredo Cooper. He’s actually chaplain to the country’s president and he told me when he first became involved in the aftermath of the mine’s collapse.”
Revd Cooper: “I am a chaplain in the presidential palace and so we had to quickly put together an emergency prayer meeting and it was with all our hearts because to imagine these 33 men a kilometre under the earth not knowing whether they were alive or what was going through their minds. 17 days we prayed and then the miracle came when the boring machine glanced off a rock and hit them – hit the cavern they were in – and of course we just erupted in praise. The second service the president called for was a praise meeting so we had a thanksgiving service and then of course we’ve had constant prayer. And this has been one of the interesting factors for folk like us to notice. Many of the miners went down as atheists or unbelievers or semi-believers and they have come up to a man testifying that they were not 33 but that there were 34 down there – that Jesus was there with them and that they had a constant sense of his presence and guidance.”
Peter Allen: “If you truly believe that it was divine intervention which rescued them then presumably you also believe that it was divine intervention which left them down there in the first place. I mean it doesn’t always make sense this kind of argument does it?”
Revd Cooper: “Well the thing is that in this fallen world this is exactly what does occur. Man is subject to accident and all sorts of problems thanks often to his wilful negligence as was the case in this mine. There are consequences when you don’t care enough for people. And of course in those situations we might compare Jonah in the whale – you know people tend to cry out to God and this is what’s happened. And God has answered.”
Peter Allen: “So you believe God listened to your prayers? God listened to your prayers – God listened to their prayers. You believe they were rescued by divine intervention really?”
Revd Cooper: “Well we of course see the hand of all these magnificent experts all around, and the good will of so many people internationally, the brilliant coverage of the press and we would suggest that all this works together for good, that certainly as we pray God has guided in remarkable ways – even the scientists. I was with the NASA people who came the other day. And to my surprise – to a man they were believing scientists in their case – and they all said: ‘This is a miracle. There is no other word for what happened here’.”
Peter Allen: “Okay”
Revd Cooper: “So I mean – Scientists, politicians, presidents – we’ve all come together in one happy moment saying, ‘Goodness! God is there and he answers prayer.’ That’s how we feel. And certainly the miners are testifying to the world of this – not just about that but certainly it seems to be a central factor.”
Peter Allen: “That’s the religious perspective from the Reverend Alfredo Cooper. It’s 5.15pm.”

Marriage and Baptism in the same service?

The Church of England has today released guidelines for local churches who want to combine baptism and marriage in the same service. This has caused a stir in the press with people asking if the church has relaxed its traditional teaching. I have just been asked to comment by BBC Radio Shropshire.

Performing both a wedding and a baptism in the same church service would be unusual, because baptism is the rite of entry into the Christian Church and usually take place in a main Sunday service. However the Church of England is signalling that there might be occasions when it could perhaps be pastorally appropriate.

This doesn’t in any way change the Church’s teaching on sex before marriage. The Bible teaches that sex should be kept for marriage, so that, in the words of the marriage service, “through the joy of their bodily union they may strengthen the union of their hearts and lives.

The Church strongly recommends couples to keep sex for marriage - and an awful lot of people would be spared a lot of heartache and hurt in broken relationships if they kept to that – but it is not the job of the Church to go around condemning people who don’t follow the Church’s teaching, but rather to offer them the grace of God.

Both baptism and marriage are described in the Church’s teaching as ‘means of grace’, that is, means by which people can encounter the undeserved favour of God through Jesus Christ. Jesus was known as ‘the friend of sinners’, not because he was soft on sin, but because he offered grace and forgiveness to those whose lives were messed up by the pain of sin.

Many people today want the best for their relationship or for their children, but may be shy of approaching the Church for marriage or baptism because they fear they may be judged for having got things in the wrong order. However the Gospel is about grace. The Church of England is here for everyone – indeed every person has a legal right to marry in their local parish church (if they have not been married before) and to bring a child for baptism.

The Church of England is at the heart of every community in the land as a sign of hope – a place where couples can find grace to help them in time of need, and a place where people can find forgiveness and a new start in life through Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose again.

All Saints Church Wellington stands on a sacred spot in the heart of the town where marriages and baptisms have been conducted for over a thousand years. This weekend we have four weddings, and we shall also welcome four different families for baptism on Sunday. If you would like to discuss arranging a marriage or a baptism at All Saints – or at our village church at Eyton – please get in touch with the parish office – 01952 248554.

Ready, Steady, Go! - 18 January 2009

Genesis 3.1-6; Matthew 3.13-4.11

 

We are working through Matthew’s Gospel this term…

Last week we had the wise men, the flight into Egypt and the return to Nazareth

In today’s passage we have jumped a period of almost 30 years, to the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry as an adult of 30

Although we’ve jumped almost 30 years, we’ve only left out 12 vv – about John the Baptist

Today – the Baptism of Jesus and his Temptation

Isn’t it encouraging that straight after the spiritual high of his baptism Jesus goes straight into a tough period of 40 day’s intense testing and temptation?

Or am I the only one who gets back from Spring Harvest or some other spiritual high, only to find the next day that everything goes wrong, I get out of bed the wrong side, I kick the cat (actually we haven’t got a cat…), I have a row. And then the little voice kicks in, ‘Huh, call yourself a Christian and the day hasn’t even started before you’ve messed up completely…’

It really shouldn’t take us by surprise…the devil has been working like that ever since the beginning, and we need to understand his tactics and be prepared…

Look back to our first reading – Genesis 3

‘Did God really say…?’ – sows doubt, and subtly twists what God actually said ‘any tree in the garden’

‘You will not certainly die’ – flatly contradicts what God has said, impugning wrong motives – ‘he wants to keep you in the dark’

‘When she saw that the fruit was good and pleasing…’ – fills our minds with unhelpful thoughts. We can’t stop tempting thoughts coming into our mind – that is not sinful any more than it was for Jesus… It is what we choose to do next that is the key. Do we dismiss the thought from our mind and repeat a verse of Scripture as Jesus did, or do we let the thought roll around in our mind and dwell on it? If you see a stunningly beautiful person coming towards you, you might not be able to stop certain thoughts coming into your mind – but what you do next is the key… Martin Luther once said about temptation, you can’t stop the birds flying over your head, but you can stop them nesting in your hair.

‘She also gave some to her husband’ – beware of those people who know they are doing wrong and want to involve you in it as a way of offloading some of the guilt and blame!

Let’s turn to our Matthew reading

Matthew 4 – page 915

We often call this passage ‘the temptation of Jesus’, but notice the heading ‘Jesus is tested in the wilderness’. And notice the wording of verse 1 – ‘Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted (or tested – see footnote) by the devil’. The phrase ‘led by the Spirit’ here is a very strong one – driven out by the Spirit. God doesn’t tempt us to do evil, but times of testing are sometimes from God, because God is keen to see what our faith is made of, and to develop our spiritual muscle.

Have you ever wondered why in the Lord’s Prayer we pray, ‘Lead us not into temptation’? As if somehow God might be waiting to pull us off the track? The same Greek word can be translated tempting or testing, and English usage has changed since the 16^th century when the Lord’s Prayer was translated into English. That’s why when the modern Roman Catholic language services were introduced the Lord’s prayer was translated ‘Save us from the time of trial’ which is a more accurate translation. It can also be translated ‘Let us not succumb to temptation’…

At certain times we are particularly vulnerable to temptation. Notice how it is just as Jesus is about to start his public ministry that he has to face down these temptations.

Notice the specific form of the temptations put in Jesus’ way. These 3 issues are not random temptations, but each is a specific attempt to undermining the whole purpose of Jesus’ life and ministry, by suggesting an easier way than the costly way of the cross.

-          To turn stones into bread, when the Jews were expecting Messiah to repeat the miracle of manna in the desert

-          To throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple, when the rabbis were expecting the messiah to stand on the roof of the holy place and proclaim to the poor that the time of their redemption was drawing near

-          To gain the splendours of the nations by worshipping the devil, rather than setting the nations free from the devil’s power by the way of the cross

In one sense they are temptations that we all face

-          To be selfish, using God’s power for our own comfort rather than the needs of others

-          To opt for the sensational, to draw attention to ourselves rather than to God

-          To compromise, to act as if a just end can ever justify an unjust or immoral means

And notice how Jesus defends himself on each occasion – by appealing to Scripture. Even though he is the Son of God, he deliberately takes himself back on each occasion to what the Bible says.

How well do we know our Bibles? There is a real encouragement here to learn Bible verses off by heart, so that we have God’s word at our fingertips when we are under pressure. And what about Terry Waite – for the first year or so in captivity he had no Bible, and the only Scriptures he had to sustain him in that terrifying ordeal were the ones he had learnt by heart…

Notice how the devil waited until Jesus was at his weakest point before going for the jugular – after 40 days – vv2-3

Is fasting such a good idea, if it makes us physically weak and vulnerable to temptation? I don’t really like fasting, and I am always glad on an excuse not to, but I do know from my own limited experience that fasting does toughen us up and make us much stronger by making us face up to temptation rather than running away from it. I will be looking at the subject of fasting in more detail in one of our Lent evening sermons…

Whenever we are about to try to do something really important for God, that is just when the devil will try to trip us up and stop us

We need to be prepared for this as a church as well as individually. God has given us a clear vision for the next five years, he is calling us to play a really significant role in this community and beyond, and we must expect the opposition to try a few spoiling tactics.

But when something goes wrong how can you tell if it is the devil at work or not?

The key thing here in my experience is not to project onto the devil the responsibility for our own mistakes. Usually the devil works through our own personal sins and weaknesses, so if something goes wrong it is still our fault - we cannot simply absolve ourselves and blame the devil.

How can we defend ourselves against temptation and against spiritual attack?

Very simple really:

-          Keep in touch with God – guard our times with God in church and in private. Knowing our Bible is the best way for us to know what is on God’s heart and what pleases him – as Jesus demonstrates each time in the wilderness – ‘It is written..’

-          Keep in touch with each other – take time to nourish relationships with those closest to us and with our church family. Jesus called his disciples to be a community – he called them to be with him, before he called them to go out and preach. Just as within marriage honesty, transparency and accountability and forgiveness are essential, so it is within our church family. It is when we get isolated that we get vulnerable. Being part of a cell group with people where we can be truly honest, forgiven and loved just as we are can be so valuable. Simple acts of grace – treating people as they don’t deserve – can go a long way.

-          Keep in touch with yourself - Don’t get stressed or burnt out – that is so often when we say or do something that we later regret.

 

New Vision Statement

Jesus is calling us to become a church which is known in the community for open doors, acts of grace, Spirit-led worship and growing leaders.

This vision statement has been unanimously adopted by the PCC. Full details of the vision process were given in my sermon today - click below to download the powerpoint presentation.

Single and Fulfilled?

All Saints Wellington, 10.30am 21 September 2008

1 Corinthians 7: 7-9, 28b-35; Luke 8: 1-3

We are in the middle of a sermon series on relationships. We began by looking at the lost art of friendship; last week we focused on marriage, under the title ‘Why bother?’. If you missed either of those sermons, do ask for a free tape from the tape desk in the hall after the service – they are both well worth listening to.

As some of you know, Gill and I have come a bit later to marriage than most, I was 40 when I got engaged, so for the majority of my adult life I have been single. This was mostly not a problem for me, but it was for my well-meaning friends, several of whom seemed to feel it their special calling to solve my problem for me…

Of course there’s lots of pressure these days to be in a relationship…

Facebook, the social networking site, gives a fascinating insight into relationships today. Once you decide to join, and have plucked up courage to email all the people you know and ask, ‘Will you be my friend?’, the next thing you have to do is fill in your profile, with the key question, ‘What is your relationship status?’…

However many of my well-meaning friends shd have known better, as they are Christians, and shd have known their bibles…

The Bible commends and honours two possible states of life for Christians, marriage and singleness. Both are commended in Scripture, and neither is more or less valued than the other – there is no second class status. Today we are thinking about being both single and fulfilled.

There are lots of examples of fulfilled single people in the New Testament, in the midst of a society where marriage was undoubtedly the norm. In Luke 8 we read of a community of people travelling with Jesus, including the 12 disciples, and a significant number of women, often forgotten and rarely pictured in the pictures of Jesus and his disciples. Yet some of these women had received significant healings, and many of them were supporting Jesus and the disciples out of their own means.

What is interesting for us today is that most of the people listed here were single: of the 12 disciples, only Peter so far as we know was married at this time (though others it seems married later – see 1 Cor. 9.4). He had a mother in law according to Mark 1.30. Of the women listed in Luke 8.2-3 only Joanna is described as being married… These women were clearly independent and means of their own which enabled them to support the disciples. In a world where women were generally ignored by the Pharisees and expected to stay at home, Jesus includes single women in his company, and is willing to be dependent upon them.

Jesus himself is a fully human being, with all the human hormones and feelings, yet he gives us a supreme example of being both single and fulfilled. He enjoys close friendships with men and women – think of the Apostle John, who described himself as the disciple Jesus loved, and who reclined on his breast at the last supper, and think of the woman with an immoral past, whom Jesus allows to cover his feet with kisses whilst he is at the home of Simon the Pharisee, or think of Mary Magdalene, who in her joy at the resurrection tries to cling on to Jesus…

Jesus gives us a wonderful example of being both single and fulfilled, enjoying warm personal friendships with both men and women, and yet single-minded in his devotion to his special calling from God.

But what about St. Paul?

Let’s turn to 1 Corinthians 7 – page 1084

Paul, as we meet him in 1 Corinthians, is unmarried – see v8. He may have been a widower, or his wife may have left him when he became a Christian, or he may simply have never married – we just don’t know.

Paul is also very positive about the advantages of being single – see verse 7 – and he encourages those who are single to remain so – verse 8.

When I was with our Bishop’s Certificate group on Thursday, I realised that some people have a bit of a downer on Paul and his attitudes to relationships. So let’s have a look at what Paul actually says about marriage and singleness and why…

The first thing to note about the context here, as in many of Paul’s letters,  is that he is answering questions from the young church at Corinth, and we don’t have their letter to him, so it is always a bit like listening to one side of a phone conversation…

Paul quotes from their letter in v1, and it seems that they are asking whether if you want to be really spiritual you shd refrain from sex. Paul doesn’t think this is right at all – as he says in v2, husbands and wives shd enjoy sex together regularly, otherwise they lay their relationship open to all sorts of temptations.

Then Paul goes on, if you are unmarried, it is good to stay that way, as he does. However, he acknowledges that each person has a different gift or calling from God, and that singleness is not for everyone. So he says in verse 9 if you don’t think you can manage without sex then you should get married.

Being single and celibate isn’t easy, whether as a teenager or an adult, and requires one to recognise situations of temptation and run from them…

Paul goes on to warn those who are contemplating marriage that there are costs as well as benefits – v28 ‘those who marry will face many troubles in this life…’ Marriage has huge benefits in terms of companionship, sexual intimacy and the gift and care of children, but it also comes with a cost. A single person has only themselves to please, and I know it is quite easy to become selfish when you have only got yourself to think of. However a married person must always think of his or her partner, a lesson married people forget at their peril! How often have I heard someone say, when a relationship breaks up, ‘he just took me for granted’. Paul goes on to spell this out in vv 32-36…

I think Paul here is particularly speaking about the divided loyalties of a Christian man who has an unbelieving wife, and who is constantly being pulled in two directions. This for me underlines the wonderful value of marrying a Christian who shares your faith and primary allegiance to Christ. Then, instead of pulling constantly in different directions, marriage actually becomes a means of God’s grace, as we discover what it is to be loved unconditionally, and what it is to serve Christ together, daily encouraging and praying for one another.

The second thing to note about the context of Paul’s remarks is that he is writing in a time of crisis – in v29 he says the time is short, and in v31 that the world in its present form is passing away. Paul is writing around AD 54 when there was a severe shortage of grain, the most basic foodstuff, around the Greek world, a famine we know about from several ancient sources. Paul seems to take the current crisis as a sign of the coming return of Christ, on the last day. That’s why Paul is cautious about encouraging people to take on a long-term commitment when he believes the end of the world may be imminent.

People are single today for all sorts of reasons, not usually because we think the end of the world is about to happen!

-          Many have been married, but have lost a partner through bereavement or divorce. Learning to start again after the loss of a partner or a failed relationship is a particularly hard thing to do, and we are going to think about that in a separate talk in this series.

-          Others have felt called to stay single, either temporarily or permanently. Sometimes this is for family reasons – I have a cousin who always stayed at home and cared for her mother, and although her mother has now died is unlikely to get the chance to marry. Such self-sacrifice deserves honour.

-          Others have felt called to stay single for the sake of the Gospel. Notwithstanding the tradition of celibate monks, nuns and priests in the RC church, I think this is an exceptional calling, though for those called to serve overseas as missionaries, this is sometimes still part of the cost today…

-          Others would love to be married, but the right person hasn’t come along (yet). This can be a really hard place to be in, especially when as a Christian you really want to find someone who shares your faith, as well of course as being totally gorgeous. Sometimes there is a temptation to go for any port in a storm, which can be disastrous. Far better to learn to accept the state we are in, and focus on the benefits, and ask God if there is any special work you can do for him whilst single. Then get out and concentrate on having lots of different friends instead of being consumed by the search for one particular friend.

But what if I feel I haven’t got any friends?

Everybody who is single goes through times of loneliness, and there can be temptations to sit at home alone sometimes and wallow in self-pity, sometimes with a supply of comfort food, when you feel everyone else has someone except you. Over the years I found a great antidote to self-pity. Whenever I began to feel sorry for myself, I resolutely got up and went out to find someone who I knew was more lonely, maybe an elderly or housebound person, or someone at school who has few friends, and decided to go and make their day and make them feel really special. It worked every time – they received a huge boost, and I came home feeling much better, and with a new-found friend.

Application

As a church we have a wonderful opportunity to be a safe space and an inclusive community, where people who are single are able to experience close and warm friendships, without everyone trying to pair them off. Those of us who have homes and families can invite single friends to meals, to join in activities, to be godparents… Church activities like Luncheon Sunday, walking group, Christmas party and special meals…

Towards 2010 and beyond!

Here is the powerpoint presentation I gave in church last night (with a few updates made today) for cell groups to pray over and reflect on. I would value written responses from individuals, and from each cell group, by Sunday 28 September. This will help me in preparing a revised version of the vision to set out in church on Sunday morning 5 October. Please email responses to vicar@allsaints-wellington.org.

Download mi_towards_2010_vision_oct08_asw.ppt

Moses the Outlaw

MUSIC? – Any dream will do

 

If Graham can show his holiday snaps last week, then so can I! This is me on the summit of

Mount Sinai

, where Moses received the Ten Commandments..

 

Today we are beginning a 5-week series on the life of Moses, so we need to begin with a bit of background. You may find it helpful to have the Bible open at Exodus 1 on page 56

 

PICTURE - Pyramids

 

As those of you who have seen the musical Joseph will remember, the story of Joseph ends with his father Jacob and the whole family moving to

Egypt

, where they were honoured guests of Pharaoh, and were given the best of the land to live in.

‘And they all lived happily ever after’? – far from it!!

 

PICTURE – famine

 

At the end of Genesis the 7-year famine really bites and the native born Egyptians are having to sell themselves to Pharaoh to get enough food to eat, while Joseph’s extended family are doing very nicely, and growing in numbers all the time. SEE V 7

 

PICTURE – slaves doing forced labour

 

Eventually popular opinion turns against these immigrant families, maybe whipped up by the ancient

Egypt

branch of the BNP, and a new govt comes in that turns against the immigrant community and makes them all slaves. SEE VV 8 and 11

 

PICTURE – river

Nile

 

However even that doesn’t stem the Hebrew birth rate, so Pharaoh hits on a new strategy, killing all the male Hebrew children at birth, decreeing in the end that all Hebrew baby boys shd be thrown in the river to drown. SEE V 22

At this point, just in case the parents of Darcy Nicole are getting a little worried, looking at our great big baptismal pool,  let me break off to assure Darrel and Kerrie  that this is not the River

Nile

, and they have got absolutely nothing to worry about!!

 

But a young mother from the tribe of Levi has other ideas. She hid her child at home for 3 months, but when he was too big to hide him any longer, she put him in a little papyrus basket in the reeds along the bank of the Nile, leaving the baby’s older sister to keep an eye out for what happened to him

 

OBJECT -  wickerwork basket to float in the edge of the baptismal pool

 

The mother had chosen her spot well, because that is where Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe. She spots the basket, opens it up, sees the baby crying (well that’s what babies do when they get wet, as we may see with Darcy in a few minutes!)

She takes pity on the baby and employs a Hebrew woman to nurse him, who just happens to be his mother, and promises to pay her. So Moses’ mother ends up getting paid for doing what was closest to her heart – like being a vicar really!

 

PICTURE – Moses as a boy??

 

And when Moses has grown up a bit and been weaned off his mother’s milk – which may not have happened in those days until about the age of 5 – Pharaoh’s daughter adopts him, and he grows up as her son in the royal court. SEE V 10

 

That’s all useful background. Now let’s see what happens when Moses has grown up.

First Bible

Reading

– Exodus 2: 11-15

 

PICTURE – Sinai - mountainous desert - taken when I was there last year

 

Oh no, I’ve blown it!!

 

Moses as a young man, arrogant and headstrong – he knows it all, he’s going to put the world to rights

 

Killing the Egyptian – sign of a hot temper, we will see again?

 

Caught between two worlds, is he an Egyptian or a Hebrew – having fallen out with his own people, and with Pharaoh trying to kill him, he runs away to Midian, a complete failure

 

Oh no I’ve blown it!! All the privileges of his upbringing, and now he’s stuck in the desert

 

Humanly speaking he’s put back the rescue of his people by 40 years…

 

PICTURE – the desert – valley floor

 

Moses flees to the desert as an outlaw, like so many before and since…

 

And yet God meets him there…

 

PICTURES DURING

READING

– THE DESERT

Second

Reading

: Exodus 2:13-3:4

 

PICTURE – ICON OF MOSES

 

This is a 6^th century icon, painted on wood, and preserved at St. Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai

 

I first saw this picture two and a half years ago, when I was praying about what to do next in my life, and God really spoke to me through this picture…

Burning bush… ‘how easy is it for me to get your undivided attention Mark?’

Sandals… ‘are you honouring me as Lord in every part of your life?’

Message… ‘are you willing to do whatever I ask, even if it is something really difficult?’

 

Let’s listen now to the message God spoke to Moses out of the bush…

Third

Reading

: Exodus 3:5-12

 

Following the wonderful revelation from God, comes his commissioning. I used to envy people who had very powerful visions of God, and wish it would happen to me  – until I realised that God usually in the Bible gives special visions to people to whom he is giving something really difficult or dangerous to do! So don’t envy them – pray for them!

 

God commissions Moses to a difficult task he doesn’t like a bit – ‘please send someone else’

 

And yet it is the task for which Moses’ whole life up to now has been a preparation – Moses is the only one who can lead the Israelites out of slavery

-          he is the only Israelite to have grown up with Pharaoh, and whom Pharaoh will talk to

-          and he is the only Israelite who has spent 40 years in the desert, and knows how to survive in that desperate and dangerous environment

 

PICTURES – WATER FROM THE ROCK, COOKING IN THE DESERT

 

God forgives Moses and gives him a second chance, and he can do the same for us.

 

SUNRISE

PICTURE – a new day is dawning for Moses

 

We might feel we have messed up, that we have missed out on God’s plan for our lives by making a wrong decision years back, or by doing something stupid in a hot-headed moment that we really regret…

But God never gives up on us. Whatever we have done, God still loves us, and God can still use us. He always has a Plan B for our lives, if we mess up Plan A, and he also has a plan C and a plan D!

 

TEXT SUPERIMPOSED – ‘We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him’ – Romans 8.28

 

And that’s what baptism is all about:

 

In baptism we receive the grace of God, who treats us not as we deserve, but precisely as we don’t deserve, the grace which comes from Jesus who loves us and gave his life so that we can be forgiven…

Washed in the waters of baptism we are made one with Christ in his death and in his resurrection from the dead, so that we can be set free from the mistakes of the past and begin a new life, that will last for ever…

In baptism we are commissioned to be Christ’s faithful soldiers and servants for the rest of our lives. The task may not be easy; we may not like it, but God says to us, as he did to Moses by the burning bush, ‘I will be with you.’

 

Work/Life Balance: blessing or curse?

Gill and I have had a really hectic week, so I found myself twice this week getting up before 6am to write a sermon on work/life balance…! I tell you that at the beginning, lest I try to come over as someone who has got this sorted.

Work/life balance is something we all have to struggle with. And not just people in work. I know retired people and homemakers who end up with a worse work/life balance than people in work, because they end up doing everything for everyone else and having no time for themselves.

Ten years ago I was reading some research about the future which predicted that in the early 21^st century the advance of technology would mean we would all work shorter hours and have more time for family and leisure…

One of the realities of the modern workplace is less job security, which leads people to work longer hours – you feel you have got to put in extra hours, or you might lose your job if others are willing to and you aren’t…

In the last 40 years we have invented all these time-saving gadgets – but how come we all seem to have less time than ever?

Article in paper – those who have all the gadgets work on average 20 days a year more

As a priest I have got to spend time with many people with not long to live, sometimes looking back on their lives with various regrets, but I have never yet had someone say to me, ‘you know Mark, I wish I’d spent more time at the office’

Those who work long hours are not just victims of the system. The truth is that we connive with the long hours culture. Why do we do that? In my experience it’s usually for one of 3 reasons. Let’s have a look at these, and see if any one of these is a subconscious factor in our lives:

Greed

We need the money. Or we think we do, to maintain the living standard we desire.

Most of us have a better standard of living than our parents did, but do we have a better standard of life??

Jesus teaches us that a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions…

Look at Matthew 6.19… ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…’ You can’t take it with you when you go…

Anxiety

If the boss asks me to work extra and I don’t, will I be the next one to get the push? I’ve got children at university and I’m on a short term contract. I need to work the hours now because I don’t know how many hours I’ll have next year…

Jesus speaks into our anxious culture in Matthew 6:

V25 ‘Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life…’

V32-33 ‘Your Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness…’

Ambition

We know we have gifts and talents, and we want to use them to the full. That is a good thing in itself, as Jesus makes clear in his parable. But maybe we also want to make a name for ourselves – to be seen to be successful at whatever we do, whether it’s in business, or in teaching, or in Christian ministry. We may also be a bit competitive - maybe we want to be the servant who uses his master’s money and produces ten talents… Maybe parents or employers have put us down at some point in our lives, and said we’ll never be any good, or maybe we failed the 11+, and we want to show people that we can achieve after all.

Ambition and success are not bad things in themselves, but we just need to be very careful that they don’t destroy our work/life balance, or mess up the work/life balance of our families or our employees.

If ambition has a bit of a hold in our lives, then the verse we could meditate on this week is 1 Timothy 6.6 – where Paul says, ‘Godliness with contentment is great gain’

OK Mark, so if we have diagnosed some of the factors that mess up our work/life balance, what is the solution?

Recovering a doctrine of Sabbath – Exodus 20.8-11

Richard began this series by reflecting on creation – work is good, we had work to do before the fall. Did you notice that the creation account in Genesis 1 also teaches us that God so ordered creation that human beings’ first full day of existence was God’s day off, so that they could play together..?

That means that Adam and Eve had to enjoy a day of rest before they could start their work of looking after creation. What a difference there would be if we could only recover that biblical sense that we work from rest, rather than using rest to recover from work…

That is why holidays should go in the diary before anything else – if we plan our holidays ahead then we have to fit work around them, rather than letting work dictate the diary and then struggling to fit in holidays

The root meaning of the word ‘sabbath’ is to cease, or to pause, derived from God pausing and resting on the 7^th day of creation. No other commandment receives as much space and attention in the OT as the observance of the Sabbath, and the death penalty is even prescribed for its infringement!

The loss of Sunday as a family day, a day of rest, has done massive harm to our society – we were not created to live 24/7, so we as Christians are called to be counter-cultural, to live distinctive lives

One of the distinctives of our lives as Christians shd be our keeping of the Sabbath. Not a day off to catch up on jobs around the house, but a distinctive day of rest, recreation and worship…

It is interesting to compare the two lists of the 10 Commandments in the Bible for the differing reasons they give for the 4^th commandment.

Look at Exodus 20.8-11 – following God’s example

Compare the other list of commandments in Deut 5.12ff

The Sabbath is commanded as a day to remember the escape from slavery in

Egypt

, from unremitting toil and drudgery…verse 15

The Christian Sunday is of course a day to remember the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, which gives it added significance… The fact that we keep Sunday rather than the Jewish Saturday as our Sabbath shd free us from legalism. Our keeping of Sunday shd not be a matter of law, with lots of legalistic rules, as in the Old Testament, but as a matter of grace.

But I believe we need to recover our concept of Sabbath, as an escape from unremitting toil…

Not everyone can keep Sunday as their day of rest… It wdn’t really work for me…but we keep Tuesdays. I tend to refer to it as my day off, but as I reflect on this series, I want to start calling it my Sabbath day

Which is your Sabbath day? What makes it different from the other days in the week?

3 other things that help my work life balance…

Having a wife…! Having a date, separate from my Sabbath

Having a hobby?

Having a quiet time, a time of stillness each day?

Devotional exercise

4 circles…

Salop Area Renewal Conference

I am excited to be at an event like this, because I believe God is renewing his church in our day, and there is so much more of God that he wants for each of us than any of us have yet begun to experience.

God has so much more blessing that he wants to pour out on us, and not just to make us feel special, but because the church is chosen by God to be the sign, agent and foretaste of God’s kingdom.

Sometimes Christians get discouraged and feel everything is going wrong…sometimes Christians get tired and weary – after all we are none of us getting any younger, and we look back wistfully and think, nostalgia isn’t what it used to be…

However I am more excited now by the future of the church now than I was 24 years ago when I was ordained…

- charismatic gifts are no longer the preserve of Pentecostals, but found in all the denominations…

- biblical scholarship is no longer the sole preserve of the liberals and the sceptics – when I was reading theology  at St. Andrews Uni it was the most liberal theol coll in Scotland where to say that you believed in miracles was to invite ridicule, yet today…

- churches of all traditions have recovered their confidence in evangelism and mission – when I was ordained, evangelism was a word which rarely if ever appeared on deanery or diocesan agendas, whereas now the majority of chs in this diocese run courses for enquirers…

- we live in an age that is hungry for authentic spirituality, and where doors are open as never before….e.g. the V Festival

God is at work in his world today, and we can be part of that. But we can’t be part of God’s work in our own strength. Jesus told his disciples to wait for the empowering of the Holy Spirit – wait in the city until you receive power from on high…

So I am really excited that on this eve of Pentecost we have come together to seek a fresh touch of the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in our churches.

I am really excited too by the theme of our gathering – the Breath of God…

The Greek word pneu- translates Hebrew ruach and means

-         to blow (of wind, air, also musical instrument)

-         to breathe

-         to emit a fragrance

-         to radiate

The breath of God is at work in the world

The Spirit blows where He wills

The breath of God gives life to the world -

The breath of God breathed into Adam and he became a living being

-         unseen yet powerful

Do our churches run on fossil fuel or on wind power??

Fossil fuel is limited and easily exhausted, wind power is renewable and unlimited

Are we going along in our own strength, doing what we have always done, feeling frustrated that it seems to be harder work for less return, or are we catching the wind of the Spirit and moving in new directions…

If we want our churches to run on wind power, not fossil fuels, we need a fresh touch of the breath of God

And if we want to receive a fresh touch of the breath of God the first place to go is the Bible, for all Scripture is literally ‘God-breathed’ – that is what the word inspired means in 2 Timothy 3.16

And the passage we are going to look at tonight is John 20: 19-23 page 1029

READ PASSAGE OUT LOUD TOGETHER

What better verse for a renewal conference on the breath of God than v22 – ‘Jesus breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit’

Let’s look at the context for a moment

After the resurrection – the evening of the first Easter Day

The disciples are locked away

The Breath of God’s Spirit brings peace

READ vv19, 21

Peace in Hebrew, shalom, is not just the absence of conflict, but wholeness of body, mind and spirit

The disciples needed peace because they were afraid – see v 19

Some of us here this evening may need to breathe in God’s peace too

-         because we are afraid, perhaps of illness, awaiting the results of tests, or a job that is about to be taken away from us. Come and receive prayer this evening for peace…

-         or because we are frantic; trying to juggle two jobs, two children, two cars, two holidays, too much. My first parish in Accrington,

Lancashire

, had the nickname jam buttie land – everything went on the mortgage, nothing left in the larder for tea

I am one of those who needs regularly to breathe in God’s peace, because naturally I am a bit of a rusher, always on the last minute, always in a hurry

And sometimes putting other people under pressure because I am in a rush…

That’s why spending time in the Egyptian desert has been so helpful to me…

Breathing is a rhythm, letting God be God in his time

Not rushing…

Deep spiritual breathing takes time – not rushing into God’s presence

But you don’t have to go to

Egypt

to find contemplative prayer…

e.g. Glasshampton – tell the story…

personal testimony – Bernard’s vision…

Is your breathing shallow or deep?

Deep spiritual breathing needs Scripture – all Scripture is inspired by God and is God-breathed…

Deep spiritual breathing means taking every opportunity to receive from God, because we leak

Opportunity

for prayer ministry – Seeking God’s peace

The Breath of God sends us out

– v21, ‘As the Father has sent me, so I send you’

One of the signs of the Spirit’s filling is that he leads us where we would not otherwise choose to go…

Being blown along by the breath of God is exciting, but also scary

-         it means leaning on God for support and trusting that he will hold you up

-         like wind-surfing, or sailing…

-         e.g. ministering at St. Patrick’s in

Bloemfontein

Opportunity

for prayer ministry – ‘be filled with the Spirit’ – go on being filled…

anointing for ministry to the least, the last and the lost; discerning and using spiritual gifts…

The Breath of God gives us awareness of sin and assurance of forgiveness– READ v23

TAKE A DEEP BREATH, HOLD YOUR BREATH, NOW BREATHE IN AGAIN…

Breathing in also requires breathing out

If we want to breathe in more of God’s power into our lives, we need to breathe out those things which are not pleasing to him –

-         planting seeds requires pulling up weeds – I have been busy in the vegetable garden this week,… and the weeds keep coming back, and you need to hoe them while they are small, otherwise they are much harder to deal with

personal testimony…we need to keep short accounts with God, and to receive assurance of forgiveness often

Opportunity

for prayer ministry – confession and assurance of forgiveness

Hallmarks of the Early Church

Acts 2.42-47; 4.32-37

One of the lesser known facts of my life is that when I was a curate I started and managed two church football teams – they didn’t let me play of course, because I’m hopeless - but they did let me do all the running around and organizing…

This morning we are continuing a short series of studies on the life of the early church in Acts, and there is an easy way for you to remember the points in this morning’s passage, because it has a

FOUR-FOUR-TWO FORMATION

Four activities

Four values

Two results

To find out what they are, let’s turn to Acts 2.42-47 on page 1033

Four activities – the midfield players, who run around the most

four characteristic activities of the early church, v.42:

-          apostles teaching,

-          fellowship,

-          breaking bread,

-          prayer

these are four key activities for growing Christians…are we devoting ourselves to…

Four values – the backs have to be solid, a solid foundation

four characteristic values of the early church:

- awe, v.43: God's presence was powerfully among them, the key factor from which the others spring. Awe comes when people not only hear the Word of God, but also see the power of God at work in people’s lives – yesterday’s healing training day, regular healing ministry as part of every week’s worship

- unity, v.44. You can soon tell if a football team is playing as a team, or if they are each doing their own thing…

- generosity, v.45 – see also Acts 4. Regular committed giving, but also spontaneous acts of generosity

‘not a needy person among them’ – what a tribute to the early church, but how are we getting on? Our family is not a few thousand, but 2bn xians, most of them in the 2/3 world… Aid agencies and mission giving is key to this

How wd all things in common work today?? One of our church members, Clare Harrison, has an idea which she has been sharing with her cell group, which I have asked her to share with us today…

- hospitality, v.46 – is there someone you could invite back to lunch after the service today, or next week?

These provide a good basis for an audit of the life of the church - are we getting a good balance of the four activities? and how are we doing on each of the qualities?

All this came straight from the Holy Spirit, newly given at Pentecost, and is therefore presumably how God wants His church to be. It's the kind of church that attracts people, that they want to be part of. I know that's the kind of church I want to belong to!

Two results – the strikers, who get results, but are totally dependent on the others, they are only as good as the service they receive

Two results – verse 47

- favour with people

- growth in numbers

Note that both are the by product of getting the other qualities right. If we aim for popularity or for growth there are very real dangers - we may well end up messing up, or doing things wrong, just to be popular, or just to get the numbers up.

Our task is to do what the early church did

- devote ourselves to the apostles'teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, prayer

and to model the values of the early church

-          awe, unity, generosity, hospitality

and if we do that, we must leave the favour and the growth to God.

Of course if we are faithful to God we may not necessarily enjoy the favour of all the people – but it is what God thinks of us that really matters, favour with God that really matters, not favour with people,

and if we are being faithful to God we may not see our church grow in attendance. As it happens, we are seeing some growth at present, but next year we might be equally faithful to God and not see any growth in numbers. At the end of the day the tally that really matters is not people in church, but souls in heaven.

You may not get to play for your favourite soccer team, but God has a place for each of us in his team, and unlike my team, we know we are on the winning side, and the post-match party is one that will never end!!