Christmas, family and forgiveness # end

 

What is Christmas about?  That question comes up every year, as many a jaded person complains once more about the commercialisation of Christmas, or struggles with the pressure of expectations that drive them to spend more than they can afford and commit to one party too many during the festive season.

 

Personally, I love Christmas.  I take time out, batten down the hatches and have some real quality time together with family and loved ones.

 

But it's about even more than that, especially for those with a faith.  One of the main messages we can find in the whole Christmas experience, is the one of forgiveness – God's forgiveness for all of us.  That's the hope that Jesus Christ came to offer to us as the ultimate Christmas present – that through his life, death and resurrection God the Father has forgiven all of the things we ever have or ever will do to break our relationship with Him.

 

You could say that Jesus himself is the ultimate gift, from his Father in Heaven to us all.  It amounts to the same thing – God loved us so much, that he wanted to give the very best he could with no strings attached, just because he loves us.  That's the true spirit of Christmas, and I know it's a real joy for so many people to be able to give to those they love.

 

Yet, in times of deepening recession, many folks are going to find it hard to give materially this year.  Certainly, many just won't be able to meet every expectation for iPhone's and X-Boxes.  Maybe that's a great opportunity for us to communicate, especially to our children, what the real heart of Christmas is all about.

 

Whether you consider yourself a Christian or not, it is an almost universal joy to give, in some way, to another human being.  And following God's example in Jesus Christ, we can all give something that can cost a lot, but for which we need no money.  Forgiveness.

 

Forgiveness can truly cost us dearly, as we have to lay down our desire for justice and revenge, in the face of the facts that yes, we have been hurt / injured / offended / mistreated and it was not our fault.  The other party, in natural terms, deserves to get what's coming to them.

 

But forgiveness works against all that, and offers the possibility of reconciliation in broken relationships.  It hurts to forgive, but, like giving presents, once we go through with it we can experience joy and peace.  Peace, because we are no longer ourselves trapped in the cycle of punishment and revenge, which can eat away at our souls as we continue to think negatively about those who have hurt us.

 

I want to stress it again – this can really cost us.  It was not easy for the old black lady in South Africa to forgive the policeman who oversaw the torture and death of her husband and son.  (You can hear that story on Cross Rhythms, we love to repeat it).  But she did it, and it brought a whole courtroom together in singing Amazing Grace and so overwhelmed the perpetrator that he fainted in shock.

 

And I am sure it was not easy for God to forgive me (or you?) for those things I have done which have hurt him and separated me from his presence forever.  Yet he paid the dearest price, that of his only Son, to cover the cost of my faults and to bring a lasting reconciliation of relationship with him, which I, and millions all over the world, will celebrate this Christmas.

 

I'll be enjoying this Christmas with my family, and looking forward to some wonderful reunions.  You cannot have those times when you carry unforgiveness towards another person in your heart, I think we've all experienced those 'awkward' and slightly stilted family gatherings where unforgiven offences lie just below the polite surface.  Often, Christmas is the time when they explode into the open and cause havoc – just witness the huge rise in work for divorce lawyers each January.

 

So why not follow God's example, admit you've been hurt and accept it wasn't your fault, maybe even cry little over that and get real with it.  But then try to forgive, to let the other person go from your heart and wish them well and not ill.  If you find that too hard, try asking God for some help – he knows all about the pain and the struggle and how to overcome it with compassion.  It's just about the best present you can give, and believe me, giving it is the best present you'll ever give yourself, too.

 

And for those of us with a faith, maybe we can pray for our neighbours to have a joyful and peaceful time with their families.

 

Have a truly blessed Christmas.

faith and hope in hard times # end

 

In the week that I'm writing this article, Plymouth has heard news about the future of Devonport Dockyard, which is better than many people expected.

 

The securing of a future for the Dockyard and its workforce, which many thought would be threatened with potential closure in the weeks leading up to the government's spending review, is in no small part due to the collaboration between MP's of differing political persuasions, and the local media.

 

Alison Seabeck, Gary Streeter, Vivienne Pengelly to name just three, put aside party political differences to fight for the Dockyard, and the press campaign run by the Herald gave the oxygen of publicity to the fight.

 

It is human nature to side with one or other political party, but to do so at the expense of the 'bigger picture' would lack wisdom.  When we all face a common crisis, we have to find a workable solution.

 

So, the collaboration between MP's of differing politics and also the local media was heartening, and the result for the Dockyard was heartening too.

 

The outcome was better than many people thought it would be.  That is often the way – we can tend to be quite negative about the possible future, and even explain our negativity by calling it 'realism'.  It's not really based on reality (who knows the future?), and critics of this way of thinking may call it, instead, pessimism.

 

Thankfully, those involved in speaking up for the Dockyard did not come from that point of view – if they did, they would have given up the fight long ago in the face of the difficulties that had to be overcome.

 

I don't think those who worked for the Dockyard's future were led by optimism either. Optimism can be as misleading as pessimism in that it exaggerates the current facts and likely outcomes, but instead of negativity as its basis it uses what some have called 'rose tinted spectacles'.  It can be just as unrealistic.

 

Both pessimism and optimism often fail to deliver what they predict.  However, there is a quality that enables us to look at the future without being overly discouraged.  That quality is hope.

 

Hope is a virtue which is perhaps misunderstood in today's society.  From a Christian perspective, we're told that three virtues are of the highest value – faith, hope and love, (and that the greatest of these three is love.)  And hope is much stronger than optimism.

 

The ancient definition of the word hope means 'trust' or 'reliance', and even its modern day meaning is very substantial: "desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfilment".  (Miriam Webster's online dictionary)

 

Optimism, on the other hand, is defined as "an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome", which seems to me to be a much weaker thing all together.

 

So where does hope get its strength from?  For those with a Christian faith, it is founded on the nature of the God that we believe in.  He is good, he cares for us and he is faithful and will stand with us through every kind of difficulty and trial.  Ultimately, he wants our best – even more than we do.

 

At times it's hard to see where the 'good news' has gone, when life gets tough.  That's where that ancient description of hope, being 'trust and reliance', makes real sense.  When the sun's shining and all is well with us and our loved ones, we just enjoy it.    It's in the dark times that we need hope.

 

I hope, and pray, that in the trials of life we can all find real hope, and can come to increasingly trust and rely on the goodness of God, even (or especially) in the tough times.

 

The Pope and Christian Values # end

The recent State visit of the Pope to these shores in September was marked by the comment he made when he urged Britain to maintain its respect for traditional values and cultural expressions that more aggressive forms of secularism no longer valued or even tolerated.  This certainly struck a chord within the press and broadcast media and the politicians.

 

David Cameron linked the Pope's statements to his own vision for a 'Big Society'. Cameron said that religion was at the heart of 'the new culture of social responsibility we want to build in Britain'.

 

Personally, I think the Pope's visit was timely and sorely needed. We had the earthly leader of over a billion of the planet's inhabitants making a strong statement about the values which are foundational to the Roman Catholic Church.  For those of us in the catholic (universal) church, the Pope's reference to protestant believers like Wilberforce and Florence Nightingale signifies a shift within ecumenical thinking.

 

You see the Head of the Christian Church is Jesus Christ Himself. Regardless of your church affiliation, whether Roman Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox your personal accountability, if you call yourself a Christian, is towards Jesus Himself which then enables you to work within imperfect denominations and imperfect leadership.

 

It is always the right time for those who have a faith in Jesus Christ to rise up and engage with the brokenness of our society.  Whether in the church communities or without, we need to stop cursing the darkness, but instead light a candle of hope; to engage with those who differ from you with respect and 'walk the talk'.

 

GK Chesterton, the Roman Catholic journalist and author said, "Perhaps the principle objection to a quarrel is that it interrupts an argument," and Voltaire said this….. "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll die for your right to say it…"

 

This is vital for a free and democratic society. Political Correctness gags personal and public opinion and is inherently unfair. Christians are being arrested today in the UK for 'silently protesting' on issues and values that they hold dear. When Churchill galvanised the nation by exhorting our forefathers to fight for the survival of Christian Civilisation, he was inspired to encourage a nation to fight for its core values against an evil ideology threatening our very survival.

 

A Big Society will require big people who are living for something (or Someone) who is bigger than themselves.

 

According to the last census in 2001, 37.3 million people in England and Wales consider themselves Christian, roughly 70% of the population.  It was Christian values that formed the basis of much of what we regard as good in our society today – William Wilberforce was passionate and effective in the movement that brought about the abolition of slavery, moved by the value of the sanctity of all human life which his Christian faith inspired.  Florence Nightingale had a 'call from God' and in following that call with compassion and courage, pioneered the nursing movement that we often take for granted.

 

And the Christian faith today is inspiring millions of hours of volunteer work in the UK, helping the vulnerable and needy in our towns and cities.  In our own fair city of Plymouth, the results of a Faith Audit are expected to show the large contribution made by men and women of the Christian faith, and other faiths, to the welfare of those who are in need.

 

At the heart of the Christian faith is Jesus Christ, who told us to 'Love God and love our neighbour as ourselves' – this is such a profound teaching of tolerance and goodwill to all people that it is hard to see where some of the more extreme expressions of 'aggressive secularism' get their ideas that the Christian faith is not a force for good in our land.

 

Whether the Pope is our denominational leader or not, we should be encouraged that he has spoken out so clearly and bravely for the core values of the Christian faith - love in action, tolerance, the sanctity of life and so much more.  These values are the bedrock of justice, fairness, mercy and a compassionate society where everyone is regarded with dignity and everyone has the right to his or her beliefs, and the responsibility to outwork those beliefs for the good of their neighbour.

Heart Not Head # end

This year's crop of record breaking A level results produces a mixed reaction from people.  Some say it shows that our school system is working well and enabling more and more young people to achieve better and better grades.  Others doubt the quality of the criteria used to make the grades, and are easily started on a 'back in my day things were tougher…' monologue that achieves very little.

 

So let me say from the outset – "Well done!" to every young man and young woman who has achieved or exceeded their expectations this year.  If you worked hard, then you've earned it and you should enjoy the fruits of your labours.  And commiserations to those who did not do so well – for those people, the following may be of some real help.

 

There is a saying, that 'if you educate a devil, you'll get an educated devil'.  By which I take it to mean that education in and of itself will not bring abut the reformation of our character for good.

 

Simply learning facts and passing exams is not what real education is about.  To quote the historian G.M. Trevelyan:  "Education... has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading".

 

That sums it up.  We have knowledge, but we can lack wisdom to know what to do with it.  Knowledge is stored in the head, but wisdom comes from the heart.  Not the physical organ that keeps the blood flowing, but that part of us where we have our values, our ethics, our sense of identity and purpose, and for those with a faith that part of us where we commune with God.

 

But many people today often seem to have no heart, no vision, no self-worth and no value of the worth of others.  The increase in A and A* grades does not seem to have made any difference to this malaise.  Knowledge alone cannot restore a human life to its full potential – there has to be something more.

 

Our young people seem to have everything they could want in terms of entertainment and knowledge at their fingertips through the internet.  Yet so many people live desperately unhappy, unfulfilled lives.  It looks like many of the ills of our society are a symptom of a directionless generation (not just young people) that is trying to consume life with no sense of purpose or value.

 

It's a problem with our whole culture.  We place a high importance on getting knowledge, but less value on the matters of the heart that help us to use that knowledge wisely. 

 

'Knowledge built on wisdom' is a phrase I heard once, and I think it puts things in the right order.  We live life best when we live from the heart, not the head.  We love our wives and children, our friends and neighbours, and we are loved ourselves, from the heart (it's certainly not a rational choice sometimes!)

 

Courage, hope, the over-riding desire to lay your life down to protect or help someone else – all these things spring up from our hearts.  If we made those choices rationally we'd either spend so long deliberating that we'd be too late to act, or we'd logically conclude that it was not the 'rational' thing to do.

 

Education is a much-needed part of the process of learning to live well, and in places where the opportunity for education is restricted, there are many detrimental effects. But let's put the accumulation of knowledge in its proper place – it should be secondary, and serve a life lived from the heart.

 

The Good Book has some advice on this, telling us to 'guard our heart, for it is the wellspring of life'.  And Jesus said "I have come to give you life [notice he says life, not knowledge] in all its fullness".  Now that's wisdom.

 

 

Big Society, big opportunity... #end

 

The Chinese definition of the word 'crisis' is 'dangerous opportunity'.  That definition offers a more positive and hopeful view of the difficult times we face, giving scope for something good to come out of something hard.

 

In the last few weeks the coalition government has begun to lay a foundation for our communities to turn this crisis into an opportunity.

 

The crisis is that finances are tight, and so public services are under threat.  The opportunity is for voluntary groups to step in and fill the gap.  The government's stated aim is to devolve power to local communities to run local services.  There is even talk of funding this from the billions of pounds lying in 'dormant' bank accounts.

 

As well as encouraging greater volunteering and philanthropy, the Prime Minister said he wants to enable "some of the most dynamic" charities, voluntary groups and social enterprises to take over the running of public services.

 

The buzz word for all of this is 'big society'.  Views on this vary depending on the colour of your politics, but this column isn't a place for a party political broadcast for any party.

 

From the perspective of the Christian faith, David Cameron's 'big society' ideas echo the words of Jesus, to 'love your neighbour as yourself'.  Love is more than a feeling, it is worked out in action, and there are hundreds of volunteer organisations that do that on a daily basis.

 

A Faith Action Audit, being carried out right now in the city, is recording just how many hundreds of thousands of hours of volunteer time are put into supporting the life of the city of Plymouth by faith groups.  The Prime Minister's 'big society' is actually already taking place.

 

The pressure of the economic crisis may the catalyst that empowers all of us to 'own' how we meet the needs of the vulnerable people in our city in a more sustainable way.

 

Along with the opportunity comes a challenge – 'people power' is another buzz word in the government's presentation of big society, and with power comes responsibility.   The more power we have to impact our society, the more responsibility we have to make sure that impact is for the good.

 

As a Christian, I believe that we are all made in the image of God, and we all have the capacity for great acts of courage, kindness and compassion.  But we also have free will and what the Christian faith calls a fallen nature (in other words, we made wrong choices and we've broken that perfect image of love).  So what lies before us is a great opportunity where we can truly 'pull together', for the good of our communities.  We'll need to lay aside our own desires sometimes to achieve that, and that is where the real challenges will lie.

 

I think a quotation from Charles Dickens, writing over 130 years ago, really sums up our own times of 'dangerous opportunity':

 

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way."  (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities)

 

The hope we have in this time of 'dangerous opportunity' is that, together, we can truly forge the best of times out of difficult circumstances, drawing on the inheritance of Christian faith and good character that has built the best aspects of our nation over hundreds of years.

 

Hopeful Sacrifice #end

Whether we like it or not, we're all going to have to make a few sacrifices somewhere along the line, in order to get our nation out of the hole it is in financially.  The 'austerity budget' that George Osborne laid out on June 22^nd in the Commons has already imposed some of that sacrifice upon us all.

There will be the usual howls of protest from some, and roars of approval from others, as these measures pass through Parliament.  That's party politics for you.  But underneath it all, I think every politician, and everyone in the country, agrees - we have to do something and it has to be quite drastic, in the face of crisis on the scale we are now seeing in our economy.

So, we'll do the British thing, and put on whatever the 21^st century equivalent to the 'wartime spirit' is.  Hopefully.  Unfortunately, many commentators doubt whether the current generation has what it takes to 'man up' (they're talking about all of us who have grown up 'soft' in the unprecedented peace and wealth of the last 60 years).

I'd agree that we seem to have lost something of backbone and the sense of living for something bigger than ourselves.  An evening watching our TV is enough to convince me of that.

But I cannot help hoping, and believing, that this generation can make a difference in our luke-warm, largely uninspiring society.  It's not just the older generation who (thankfully) laid down their lives for us in WW2.  Plymouth is a military city, and almost daily we hear of young men (and women) who are risking and losing their lives in warfare in Afghanistan.

Whatever we think of it politically, when the rubber hits the road they are fighting for a cause greater than themselves, whether it's a war on terror or simply risking life and limb for their comrades in arms. In the theatre of war they are discovering that with rights comes responsibility, and they are learning it in a very tough way.

The economic situation back home also has our leaders almost on a war-footing, encouraging us all to pull together and take personal responsibility financially for the sake of our friends and families and our nation.  

That responsibility, or ability to respond, is a weight carried by every mature man and woman.  Our leaders can make superb governmental decisions, but if we as individuals don't take up our own responsibility those leadership actions will probably have no lasting effect.  We're in this together, and it will take courage to work our way out of it, together.

We have to work hard against the commonly accepted, but ultimately worthless, values of self-gratification and the general sense that 'human rights are the most important thing'.  Without responsibility to guard them and guide them, our ideas of 'human rights' are little more than a disguise for selfishness and 'me first' – really, it's childish, as any parent will know.

'Fight Club' was a '90's movie and book, and it had a memorable quote that summed up one aspect of that kind of thinking:  We're the middle children of history.... no purpose or place.  We have no Great War, no Great Depression.  Our great war is a spiritual war.  Our great depression is our lives. 

We are now living post September 11^th, and post credit crunch.  The world has changed beyond all recognition from the 'do as you please and make a living' days of the '80's, '90's and early '00's.  The disenchantment, cynicism and purposeless typified by the movie 'Fight Club' should surely now give way to something better; character and determination, community spirit in the face of a commonly shared hardship.

We have a war (on terror, like it or not); we have the looming threat of a Great Depression akin to the twenties and thirties (or worse).  Hopefully the hardships we face will create a sense of purpose and destiny, a sense that we do have a place and a role to play in the bigger fight that we are all now facing – the fight to preserve a hopeful future for the next generation.

2,000 years ago one Man took manhood to its ultimate extreme, fought (and defeated) torture, death, and Hell, all in the cause of something other than Himself – to give eternal Life to you, and me, and our children.  Jesus is my hero, and I pray that His example of unconditional love will shape all our decisions as we face the months ahead.

A Bigger Picture #end

I have been thinking lately about the need we often have to put our personal feelings and opinions aside, for the sake of others.  Whether this is for our families, our communities or society as a whole, it is a choice that we all have to make, and our political leaders are no exceptions. 

The political landscape in the UK has recently seen a huge shift, with the formation of the first coalition government for 70 years.  This coalition will require some genuine laying down of agendas in order for it to work, as did similar governments during the Great Depression and World War 2, when all parties agreed that party politics should take second place to more serious issues.   

Whilst the circumstances surrounding the present coalition are different to those 70 years ago, they are not all that different.  We are facing global economic difficulties which are affecting many countries adversely, and look as though they may affect us here in the UK even more in the coming months.  We're all going to need to submit our preferences for the sake of the 'bigger picture'.  The old-fashioned term for this was 'pulling together'.

It will take courage and character on the part of politicians to face up to unpleasant realities with a resolve to put the wellbeing of our communities and society above party politics.  

On an individual level, this kind of character is evident in the lives of many people today who give of themselves for the benefit of others.  The laying down of personal ambition for the sake of others is the very nature of real love, and is summed up in the Bible in the letter Paul wrote to the early Christian church in Rome nearly 2,000 years ago: "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves" (Romans 12v10).

As a Christian, I believe that the strongest motivation in the world is God's love, demonstrated in the life, death and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ.  This love, which Paul wrote about, will override selfishness and personal ambition in any of us.

Love, not just romantic love but the compassionate, determined love of a Mother losing nights of sleep nursing her sick child; and the courageous love of a soldier risking his life for his friends; or the simple, enduring love that makes the commitment of a marriage last for decades, is what is needed by and from us all.  This love is not the exclusive property of those of us who call ourselves Christians, but I do believe that real love, however it is expressed, comes ultimately only from God.

We should hope that the coalition leadership that we now have in this country will be effective in the days ahead.  The Bible encourages us to pray for our leaders.  I believe that for those of us who profess a Christian faith this means our political leaders as well as spiritual leaders.  They will require courage to be able to put their long fought-for and firmly held party political beliefs to one side, as they seek to steer the nation through stormy waters.

And it's not just our leaders who have to shoulder this burden – we can all play a part in this.  Some events impact on us all, and the global economic crisis is one of those.  We might need to lay aside our own political preferences and feelings and allow our leaders to lead well, supporting them wherever, in good conscience, we can.

Just like the political parties, the various church denominations can also have strongly held and differing opinions on matters which seem a little unimportant to someone looking in.  However, they too are able to work together for the greater good of their communities, and often do, pouring thousands of hours of voluntary service into their local communities in Plymouth.

Thankfully, by God's grace, we all have the opportunity to 'mine' the character of love for ourselves and let it shape our decisions and actions for the good of our families, our communities and even our nation.