Prayer #end

Prayer.  Everyone has heard of it; many people practice it. Christians, Muslims, Jews - even professing atheists, in a time of crisis, have been known to pray!

 

For many of my generation, The Lord's Prayer was something you just knew, even though you did not remember how you knew it.  It was said in school, maybe at home now and then at bedtime, it was also heard on the radio, occasionally on TV and of course, at church on those times when we were dragged in, usually for Christmas or Easter.  We just knew it, like we knew that Sunday meant Sunday roast, and all the shops were shut that day.

 

But in 2010, where does prayer fit in to our secularised, 7 day a week lifestyle?  Well, let me quote a couple of praying people:  firstly, Corrie ten Boom, who learned some things about prayer in a Nazi concentration camp in WW2, where she was sent for hiding refugees from harm:  "Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tyre?".  Think about it – is prayer there for emergencies when all else fails, and life goes flat?  Or is it there for everyday use because we need direction, and to keep us on the road? 

 

The second quote comes from John Bunyan, famous as the author of Pilgrim's Progress which he wrote whilst in prison in the late 17^th Century.  He said this:  "In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart." 

 

It's not how much we say, but where our hearts are at.  God wants the honesty of our hearts, he wants us to talk to him with no 'show', no fear, no pretence or attempt to be anything other than ourselves.

 

If you'll let me get a bit mystical here, I believe the Christian faith is a love affair with God, and prayer is the language of that love affair, from the heart.  You don't talk to your wife, or boyfriend or girlfriend or husband with 'proper' language and at a distance, not expecting them to talk back – you engage with their hearts at a deep level, and find some real joy in doing so.

 

Nowadays, millions of praying Christians all over the world practice prayer often, not just in set times and ways (which is fine) but also in the car, at work, in the shower, in fact anywhere that they find themselves.

 

There are loads of ways to pray – if you're into the internet you can go to www.crossrhythms.co.uk and find the prayer rooms, which many of my friends in the 'facebook-generation' find really helps them talk with God, as it's how they communicate with their friends anyway.

 

Jesus himself showed us not just how to pray, but what attitude we should have in our approach to God.   Let me quote a bit of the Good Book here, from a modern translation called 'The Message':  "People brought babies to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. When the disciples saw it, they shooed them off. Jesus called them back. "Let these children alone. Don't get between them and me. These children are the kingdom's pride and joy. Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in."

 

God doesn't want us to have 'proper' prayers or a fully formed theology or loads of church experience in order that we can come to him in prayer.  He just wants us, just as we are and not as we should be.

 

If you've learned the old fashioned version of the Lord's prayer, that's great – think about it, ponder on it, and look a little bit deeper into it with a heart open to God.  I'll finish with a modern version of the Lord's prayer, again taken from 'The Message'

 

Our Father in heaven,
   Reveal who you are.
   Set the world right;
   Do what's best— as above, so below.
   Keep us alive with three square meals.
   Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
   Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
   You're in charge!
   You can do anything you want!
   You're ablaze in beauty!
   Yes. Yes. Yes.

 

Bible quotes from The Message.  Copyright © 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group."

 

Who Is Jesus? #end

 

The focus of some of us at Christmas, even in our post-modern age, was Jesus Christ.  But for the majority of people in Plymouth, there is probably still a very real and understandable question that is not often asked – just who really is Jesus?

 

For countless millions all over the world, he is much more than a good man or a great moral teacher.  The debate about who he is has gone on for nearly twenty centuries, and probably began amongst his own close friends and family.  So, rather than add fresh fuel to the fires of theological argument, I'll let others do the talking:

 

"Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the Child of a peasant woman. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty, and then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never travelled two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself. He had nothing to do with this world except the naked power of His Divine manhood. While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a Cross between two thieves. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth while He was dying—and that was His coat. When He was dead He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Such was His human life—He rises from the dead. Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone and today He is the Centrepiece of the human race and the Leader of the column of progress. I am within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever were built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that One Solitary Life". James C. Hefley, Christian author, editor, publisher, and journalist.

 

Many people are prepared to accept Jesus as one of the greatest men that ever lived, and to align themselves with his teachings (sometimes this is easier where those teachings promote their own agenda).  However, the struggle for belief involves wrestling with the claims for divinity, which ancient writers made about him:  "He shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" according to the prophet Isaiah writing a few hundred years before Jesus' birth.

 

The Bible is really clear on the matter and leaves no room for having Jesus as a merely historical figure pointing the way to God.  He claimed divinity for himself, while assuming the full nature of humanity and serving those very human creatures he had created in loving community with his Father and the Holy Spirit.

 

Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no man comes to the Father except through me," which is a fairly blunt declaration, coming as it did from a carpenter whom most thought was born illegitimate to a young Jewish girl.

 

According to renowned author and philosopher CS Lewis, "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

 

So much for the Christian writers and the Bible, but please allow me just one more quotation, from a military and state leader in Europe who established a vast empire through the use of force and political machinery, in a very short time.

 

"I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him."  Napoleon Bonaparte

 

At the start of this year, following on from the year when many commemorated the achievements of Darwin in his scientific research and his theory of evolution, I'd like to be very clear on our position here at Cross Rhythms – Jesus is exactly who he says he is; he is alive, and is expecting a response from us to his claims; he will not force us to make one; but we will give an account for how we think about and answer the question.  He is utterly trustworthy, completely loving, and absolutely right in every decision and judgment he makes.  He is as tender as a lamb in his merciful dealings with doubters, wrong-doers, children and the downtrodden; and as fierce as a lion in the pursuit of truth and justice and in dealing with arrogant pride, especially of the religious variety.  He is also Almighty God.

 

That, in essence, is simple Biblical truth and it has formed the bedrock of the freedoms we have enjoyed in Britain for many hundreds of years.  As Christians at Cross Rhythms, we cannot water down the presentation of what the Bible has said for thousands of years – to do so would be to erode the very foundations of freedom and allow the rising tide of sometimes well-meant humanism to drown the voices of many of the weakest people in our society, with a flood of legislation that has proven again and again to be powerless to correct the evils of our times.  We need the Way and the Truth, and we certainly need Life.  Jesus Christ offers it all, like no other ever has or could.

Forgiveness is the reason for the season #end

 

 

Cross Rhythms recently won a significant media award for the 'Truth & Reconciliation' piece, which regular listeners will have heard broadcast over the past few months.

 

The piece tells the true story of a Christian black lady from South Africa who forgave the policeman who brutally tortured and killed first her husband, and then her son.  Her forgiveness of this man extended as far as embracing him in court and asking him to become her 'son' so that she could pour out the love she had left, on him.

Forgiveness was also at the fore recently in our news media, which reported on the tragic death of Rosimeiri Boxall, the 19 year old girl who died jumping from a 3^rd floor window to escape a sustained and violent episode of bullying.

The response of Rosimeiri's parents must have challenged every parent in Britain.  In their own statement, they said: "We continue to pray for those who are responsible for Rosi's death. We want them to know that we forgive them. That does not mean that what they did doesn't matter".

The couple hoped that "forgiveness will allow the girls to be released from the burden of what they have done, so that they can even now grow into the sort of people that God intended them to be".

It is the faith of Rosimeiri's parents, and the lady from South Africa, who are Christians, which gives us hope in these troubled times that there is a way to resolve what otherwise could be endless conflicts, on a personal and national level.  There is a power greater than us Who empowers us with the divine attribute of forgiveness.  He came to earth 2,000 years ago and we celebrate his birth in a few weeks time.

Also in the news recently is the dreadful revelation of how British children were deported to Australia as late as the mid-twentieth century, at times without their parents' consent, in a drive to 'improve their chances in life'.  This misguided state objective caused untold misery for thousand of children who grew up in loveless homes, often suffering abuse and with no hope of returning to the families and friends they were torn away from.

Now adults, many of these deportees are understandably hurt, angry and seeking financial recompense for what happened to them.  No-one, on Earth, can fully appreciate what they have been through. We hope and pray that these people will find some measure of grace to forgive, because remaining bitter and unforgiving is like taking poison while you wait for the other person to die.  As the Boxalls said, forgiveness does not mean the wrongdoing does not matter, but it provides the only way out of hopelessly broken situations that cannot be undone.

 

Forgiveness is one of the chief building blocks of the Christian faith, which has undergirded the structure of civilized societies throughout the world.  To lose this value is to lose hope for reconciliation personally and in world affairs, and to devalue our humanity.

2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ was separated from his Father, and came to a land that was not his home, offering love, healing, hope and reconciliation to God.  He was misunderstood, brutally tortured, mocked, derided, unjustly accused and killed.  He did it all for love, of his Father and you and me.

The Good News is that death couldn't hold him and the grave couldn't keep him, and the Christmas story meets the Easter story in the most profound example of the power of forgiveness.  Today, 2,000 years later, that power is still flowing from the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

This Christmas, as we gather with our families and seek to share hope and joy with one another, it would be a good thing for us to take time out, think of where we've been offended or hurt by those we love, and forgive them from our hearts.  It's a 'gift' that will last a lifetime and beyond.  It's a gift we need to receive as well as give.

Freedom of Expression #end

Recently, we heard of a Christian nurse from Exeter, who is facing disciplinary action for simply wearing a necklace on which hung her confirmation cross. Under duress, she accepted an offer of redeployment to an administrative post, and has instructed lawyers to file an action at the Employment Tribunal for discrimination.

Shirley Chaplin, 54, having served as a nurse for nearly 30 years, was threatened with disciplinary action after refusing to remove a necklace bearing a cross - a symbol of her deeply felt Christian faith.  Despite wearing the cross ever since studying to be a nurse, bosses at The Royal Devon & Exeter Trust Hospital ordered her to remove the personal item, deeming it a breach of uniform policy and a health risk to her and to patients. 

Mrs. Chaplin claims the demand to remove her cross has nothing to do with health and safety, but is an infringement of her human rights, and that of being able to express her faith, which has been her foundation and strength for nearly 30 years of serving members of the public through nursing. Mrs. Chaplin informed managers that necklaces were worn by other members of staff and the Trust had promoted the hospital in photographs where staff were wearing jewellery, and many staff wore visible medialert chains.

Mrs Chaplin said: "This blatant piece of political correctness amounts to the marginalising of employees' personal human rights, a blanket 'secularising and neutralising' of the NHS intended to stop Christians from expressing their faith in the public services of the NHS."  On September 21, the nurse was told she either accepted redeployment to a non-nursing role or face the sack.

I expect this debate will raise its head again and again, as we now seem to live in a society where the foundational Christian values of freedom of expression are being seriously undermined, ironically in the name of 'religious tolerance' by the 21^st century religion of secularism.  Let's pray that common sense will prevail, and even more stringent and discriminatory legislation will not be passed in the name of 'freedom' which actually acts against the freedom of people to express the very beliefs that motivate actions of service and compassion.

Just for the record, the cross has not always been the main symbol of the Christian faith.  For the first three hundred years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, it was images of the resurrection that dominated Christian art.  The hope of new life, the power of the forgiven life made available by the death of Jesus, depends on the fact of his resurrection, which put an end to the rule of death and legalistic religiosity and replaced it with grace.

No wonder this hope, the resurrection, formed the bedrock of Christian imagery during the centuries when the Gospel was at its most influential in bringing life to so many people.  Maybe we should start to wear jewellery and paint pictures that depict this hope – after all, destroying evil and giving abundant life to us was the purpose that led and sustained Jesus through the awful journey of the cross.

Unless and until we have some new art, however, the cross is an important symbol of faith to people like Nurse Chaplin – can it really be, in our liberal and enlightened times, that someone wants to stop the good news that it points to, being freely expressed?

 

Being a Parent #end

There have been a number of programmes on TV over the last few years, aimed at helping parents bring up their children.  We are shown the extremities of teenage rebellion on shows like Bad Lads Army, and the various 'Teen Camps' programmes; and we're all familiar with the terrible toddlers who come under the spotlight in Super Nanny or The House of Tiny Tearaways.

 

The number of programmes dealing with these issues shows us at least one thing – bringing up children is a hard job, and many of us, as parents, struggle to know how to do it effectively.  These programmes often tap into age-old wisdom about parenting – loving discipline, consistency, firmness and fairness.  Often it is obvious during the shows, that just having someone to show them how to do it, and provide encouragement, is enough to radically transform the lives of some parents and their families.  So why do we get to the place of needing this advice, apart from the fact that we are all, always, learning in life?

 

Like a lot of people, I had parents who cared for me, but who could not make their marriage work and so divorced.  I have friends who have never known one, or in some cases both, of their natural parents.  And so when it came to our turn to bring up our kids, we found that a lot of the life-lessons to equip us for the task had just not been learned.

 

With the utmost sensitivity to the pain of broken families for all concerned, it has to be said that when families break down, the consequences can carry on into the next generation.  We learn most of our parenting skills by imbibing the way we ourselves experienced our own upbringing.  The good bits are great, the less good bits we need to change.  Often there is a vacuum, a silence when we search for the answer to the question 'what on earth do I do for my child in this situation?'  It can be incredibly difficult and painful 'learning on the job' as a parent.

 

The reason for the popularity of the kind of TV shows we've been talking about, could just be that we all know we need help to improve our parenting, but we don't know where to turn.  So we search for those life-skills through the medium of television.  It's certainly better than nothing.

 

The Bible has a lot to say about family.  As a collection of books it has survived the test of time for thousands of years and its wisdom has been proven in many lives. 'Honour your father and mother' is a commandment that we sometimes only learn the real value of when we ourselves become father or mother.  Honouring our parents means to respect them for doing the best they could with what they had, without being blind to any areas where we could improve on the foundation they have laid.

 

Ultimately, the essence of being a father or a mother is found in the loving character of God – not an angry old man with a stick, ready to whack us for stepping out of line.  Nor an indulgent father Christmas who gives us all we ask for and ignores our faults.  But a consistent, dependable, trustworthy, just, fair, strong, merciful, kind and loving Father who desires our best and seeks to release us into our full potential if we will work things out with Him, His way.  And before we get into a debate on sexism, we need to remember that the Bible talks of the mother heart of God, too.

 

So if you find that those helpful TV programmes are not answering all the questions you have about being a father or mother, try talking to God about it – He is the originator of both roles, and over the years he's had to deal with countless numbers of wayward children, myself included.  His own Son, Jesus, was in such a close relationship with Him that he could say 'if you have seen me, you have seen the Father'.  Jesus showed us what Father God is like, and offered Himself as our way back to our Heavenly Father.  Wherever you are on that journey, He is waiting to hear from you about your needs as a parent.

 

The media's responsibilty to complex issues of war #end

This month I want to write about a difficult issue – that of our military in places like Afghanistan, and the media coverage it receives.  There is something in the media just about every day, often analysing our involvement in military operations in those countries.  And there is also, sadly, the frequent news of deaths and injuries of some of those who have served in these conflicts, as well as news of the suffering that war causes to civilians who get caught in the crossfire.

 

Plymouth is a military town, with a long military tradition.  As such, we hear this kind of news maybe more than others, and our local media, on the whole, is supportive of the troops and pays respect to them in their coverage, which is understandable.

 

In the church fellowship which I pastor with my wife Kerry, one of our young men recently returned home after a three month tour in Afghanistan.  He came home safe and sound, and also matured by the experience and with a different perspective to the one he had before he embarked.  This is our only real connection with the war, and as we love this young man and want the best for him, it could be easy to allow emotional reasoning to unduly influence our own opinions of what our political and military leaders are doing in regard to the conflict.

 

However, the issues behind the war are complex, and most of us do not have nearly enough information to make a sound judgment on the rightness or otherwise of our involvement.  In most of life's issues it is those who are involved and have the full picture who are best equipped to make informed decisions. We elected our government democratically, to lead and carry the weight of the responsibilities that face them in these difficult times, and as I have said before in this column, one of the Bible's commands to Christians is to pray for those in leadership.

 

In order that we can all do our part, great or small, and also have a better understanding, it is important that our media comments as objectively as possible on these issues, since journalists have an obligation to bring out the truth behind any story.  The media has tremendous influence in our society, and is a wonderful platform for debate. 

 

The democratic right to protest, to influence change for good and to voice opinion is built into the foundations of our society, indeed those rights are there because of the Christian heritage of our nation.  But we should always remember that our responsibilities should balance our rights in helping us have the wisdom to know what is helpful and constructive, and what is simply hot air, or worse, destructive to good government.

 

Recently, a friend of mine met a young veteran of the war who had some serious injuries.  He was coping remarkably well, and when asked what he thought of the leadership he was upbeat and positive in spite of his own condition.  This young man certainly had the right to complain, but he didn't.  Instead he honoured those he served with and was making the best of what life had given him.  That was an example to us all.

 

General Sir Richard Dannatt, the Chief of General Staff, has done much over the last three years to improve the welfare and pay of armed forces personnel.  He is now retiring from the post, but he is respected by his men because he leads from the front, and currently he is in the midst of some political controversy over his requests for more equipment for his troops.   As a young Afghanistan war veteran said to a friend of mine "He'll take the stick or take the glory, that all goes with his job."  General Dannatt's Christian faith is well documented by the media, let's pray that he and his successor receive God's grace, wisdom and strength to make good decisions, along with all those in leadership in this terrible conflict.

 

What is love? #end

 

 

 

For those of us old enough to remember, 80's rock band Foreigner had a huge hit with the song 'I Want to Know What Love Is'.  The song tapped into mankind's universal cry for love, with lyrics including the line 'In my life there's been heartache and pain, I don't know if I can face it again, can't stop now I've traveled so far, to change this lonely life'.  Many folks can identify with that, and also with the signature lyric from the song: 'I want to know what love is, I want you to show me, I want to feel what love is, I know you can show me'.

 

Now I do not really know who the guys in the band were asking the question in their search for love.  They were probably looking for human love from a relationship.  Or maybe they had a more inspired and Divine quest - they had a great Gospel choir on backing vocals, giving their all with passion.  Who knows?

                                                   

I truly hope the band found what they were looking for, or that they at least have not hardened their hearts with cynicism to protect them from the many 'heartaches and pains' that inevitably face us on the journey of life.

 

We all, deep down, want to know what love is.  We want to give it and we want to receive it, it's as fundamental to our existence as the air we breathe and the water we drink.  Love can take many forms, in families, with friends, with lovers.  And it can take many abuses from ourselves and others, that twist our perception of love with pain until we, like Foreigner, get to the place where we lose sight of its meaning and cry out for the truth about love.

 

So where do we go for the answers?  What do we even mean when we say 'love'?  Romantic love is great, but after six months it will fade and then the real business of relationship and commitment will begin.

 

Long term married folks will talk of a deepening love, yet it's hard won and comes with scars. It seems that real love is more than feeling good, and that it costs.  Even the best of human loves isn't perfect.  Just think of those closest to you, whom you value the most – even they have let you down and hurt you.  And we're all painfully aware of just how much our own ability to love could improve.

 

People who have endured suffering in their lives often excel in showing love.  They show us that the difficulties of life and relationships, paradoxically, are the fertile ground where love grows and matures.

 

Love is a big subject, and needs some big answers.  If you're looking, try tuning in to the lyrics of the songs on Cross Rhythms 96.3FM as part of your search.  But the best and last word comes from the Good Book itself:

 

Love is long-suffering (patient), it's kind, it doesn't envy and it isn't proud, it doesn't force itself on others, isn't always 'me first', doesn't get angry easily, doesn't keep a record of other people's wrongs, it hates evil and it celebrates with the truth.  Love always protects, always trusts, always looks for the best and love never gives up… and so faith, hope and love remain, but the greatest of these is love. (The Bible, 1 Corinthians Chapter 13).