Fathers and Sons #end

There's an emphasis in the local media on changing the perceptions of us older folks towards the younger generation.  I'm all for that, because the central message of the Christian faith is the love of Father God, towards His wayward, unruly, disobedient children (that's you and me). 

At Easter, we remember that the loving obedience of Jesus Christ to His Father led Him all the way to the cross, where he died for wrongs he did not commit, (the Bible says He took the punishment for your and my sins, for every way in which we don't measure up to God's standard of real love). 

And this Easter, 2,000 years later, Christians all over the world will be celebrating the resurrection of Jesus which followed His crucifixion, paying the price for all of us to come into that wonderful relationship with Him and His Heavenly Father, and to live lives of love through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

This new life is for everyone, not for people who are 'good enough'.  The fact is, we're all imperfect, we all get it wrong and we all need forgiveness.  It is sometimes said that a 'minority of young people spoil it for the majority'.  Jesus also came for that minority, and His love is as much for them as anyone.  In fact, I believe it is only the love of God that can truly change a human heart and cause us to become more loving ourselves.  Jesus said 'I have not come for the righteous, but for sinners'.  In other words, we need a dose of humility to realise we're all in need of the change that His love can bring. 

The church is not exempt from needing to see young people in the same way as God does.  In the Sixties, thousands of young people found a faith in Jesus during their hippy days; they were the delinquents and drop-outs of their day and they found a life-changing relationship with God.  But, as Aussie reverend John Smith said, 'the Church judged them for the length of their hair and the fact they had no shoes on their feet'; and so in some ways we put up barriers to a generation, and we missed out on the enthusiasm for life that they would bring. 

That is a mistake we should not make again, and Cross Rhythms, with its roots in that youth culture and the excellent contemporary Christian music that it generates, has a passion to reach our young people without alienating them by judging or dismissing their culture. 

For our broken society to really experience healing, the Bible teaches that we need a turning of hearts from fathers to children, and from children to fathers.  Relationships are two-way (at least).  Father God, as I said last month, deeply affirmed His Son Jesus during his life and ministry on earth, saying more than once that He was 'well pleased' with Him. 

And Jesus, the best example of a Son that has ever lived, said that his actions were those he had seen His Father doing, and His words were those His Father had told Him to say.  (I am paraphrasing, from the Gospels). In Jesus' relationship with His Father, that obedience borne out of love brought the power of heaven to earth to transform lives and deal with our selfishness like nothing else ever could. 

Let's celebrate the fact that there is a move to view young people positively and to counter the negative stereotypes that we sometimes accept without thinking; but let's also follow Jesus' example, and honour our Fathers and Mothers too.  Then we can truly hope and pray that God will come and heal our nation, which heaven knows has enough troubles that need healing.

 

help

Hi Neil
A couple of people have pointed out that what looks like the play button by the logo on the Cross Rhythms blog doesn't play the radio. I realize it's a minor point but is there anyway you could set it up so if someone does click on it it would go to the radio live?
 
Many Thanks
Paula

The Father Heart of God #end

Fathering is an issue that can be very difficult to discuss in our culture, as so many people nowadays have a negative perception of fathers, either through not having a father around, or having an abusive father.  Fatherlessness seems to be an epidemic all over the 'developed' world, and the statistics on the negative outcomes for families with broken fathering can be very sobering reading.  There is a deep cry in the human heart for the love of a good father.

 

It is in the light of this that I want to encourage our readers that there is an incredibly good Father for all of us to find – God himself.  I appreciate that just calling God 'Father' can be a problem for many people, because of their own experiences.  Unfortunately, many people today simply have no idea what affirmation and validation from a good Dad is like.  However it's clear that Jesus Christ had a tremendous loving relationship with God as his Father, and his Father thought the world of him. 'You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased' is just one affirmation recorded in the Good Book from Father God to Jesus his Son.  The Bible also tells how to meet with this loving, heavenly Father; Jesus said 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'.

 

Rev Mark Stibbe is a man who has a deep understanding of the Father heart of God, and he shares honestly and vulnerably from his own experiences as he ministers to people, helping them meet God's fathering in a personal and very real way.  He is coming to Plymouth at the end of March and I'd encourage you to get along to his meetings (see the end of this article for date and venues).

 

I recently had the privilege of interviewing Mark for my Art of Living Show on Cross Rhythms Plymouth (this will be broadcast on Monday 15^th March at 11am, Wednesday 17^th at 6pm and Friday 19^th at 1pm, all on 96.3FM).  He said something that struck a chord with me: "Whenever I minister I tell my own story of brokenness because people are looking for reality.  We are all wounded healers, we're all works in progress and we all have a story."  Mark was orphaned, along with his twin sister, when he was a baby. Because he shares honestly and authentically from his ongoing experience of healing from the brokenness caused by this abandonment and fatherlessness, people are able to connect more easily with the message of the love of Father God.  He also shares about the mothering nature of God, bringing healing to emotional wounds in that area too, but it is in the area of Fathering that he mostly ministers.

 

Mark places a lot of emphasis on fatherlessness being a cause of some of our social ills. "We are reaping the whirlwind of decades of fatherlessness," he says.  "In our society today we have boys with guns and girls with babies, and both on drugs, and the number one reason for this is absent fathers or abandoning or abusive fathers." This may be a 'politically incorrect' viewpoint in the eyes of some, and I know there are many wonderful single mum's who love their children passionately and courageously, but I have to agree with him from my own experience of pastoring many folk during the last 30 years, and seeing healing and transformation come to deeply wounded people when they encounter and become established in the love of Father God, and go on to become better fathers and mothers themselves than they ever dreamed would be possible.

 

Sadly, the wounds of fatherlessness are as common within the church as they are in society as a whole.  Mark's message of the Father heart of God is just as much for people with no church experience as it is for those who go to church, and all are welcome at the meetings he will be speaking at on March 28^th.  I would encourage you to go along with an open mind, and be prepared to let Father God love you and heal you if you have any kind of wounded heart in the area of fathering.

 

Mark Stibbe will be speaking at Plymouth Christian Centre, Cattedown Roundabout, Embankment Road, on Sunday March 28^th at 10.30am; and at Mutley Baptist Church, Mutley Plain at 6.30pm that same evening. All are welcome.