The Lightship

It has been quite a varied week. Monday we found ourselves in Cardiff - where we had to be for an early appointment Tuesday morning with UKBA.

A friend of mine used to say to me "sometimes the main thing isn't the main thing" and I think that was true of this visit. We thought Debs and I, that the whole visa thing was the whole reason for being in Cardiff. It turned out not to be.

We spent Monday with Mavis and Colin who live in Cardiff. We had a lovely supper with them and then a chat and a pray. The chat was quite wide ranging, about angels, about prophetic ministry, about the Pope's decision that day (12th February 2013) to stand down from his ministry. God is stirring up the whole church across all denominations. His prophets have been speaking. And I believe his winnowing fan is out over all his followers. Some will leave their churches and give up the practice of their faith, to others God will make himself clear. Their eyes will see him afresh or for the first time.

The companionship that Mavis and Colin shared with us was a blessing to us both and it continued the next day. After the visa stuff was with great relief sorted out we met again.

God prepares things a long time in advance. He wants us, if we have the capacity, to join in with the delivery of his plans for us and others.

Here is an example:

The lightship Helwick LV14 was built and commissioned by Trinity House in 1953. It was brought to Cardiff Bay in 1993 and restored to create a floating Christian Centre.

Somebody had the vision for that. They had to hold onto it whilst finding others to share it and maybe even other people to restore and tow the boat to its intended location. It has no engine!

Now all these years later it is moored in the regenerated area just near the Welsh Senate in Cardiff Bay.

For me it was a little reminder of how God has the plan and we can't see all of it. In my thinking he just wanted that boat near the Welsh Senate but in order to achieve it he had to move someone into action before even the referendum was taken.

Debs and I are so pleased her visa is sorted out for the next 30 months. I am glad that the only appointment we could get was in Cardiff. She will tell you I kept plaintively saying beforehand can't we get an appointment in Croydon? It may sound a small thing but the whole trip turned out to be a blessing when I thought it was going to be distinctly otherwise. We need these blessings on our journey through life.

There is other stuff I could say - for example God really wants me to study Galatians 5 & 6 (ask if you want to know why I know) - stuff we said about angels.

For reflection:

What is God wanting you to prepare for him?

Dear Jesus, we seek time with you - help us to learn at your feet. Help us to be attentive to the promptings of the Spirit. Amen

Remember the rock from which you are hewn ..

I have been having trouble this week choosing what to write about. Well actually the trouble has been to try and choose between two different passages of scripture that speak to my heart. And then, "the penny dropped," and I realised that they are actually connected. So here goes! To avoid confusion I will give you both passages first.

“Love must be completely sincere. Hate what is evil, hold on to what is good.” Romans 12:9 GNT

and

"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn" Isaiah 51:1 NIV

I think these days we are hungry for authenticity. So much about our culture and politics is so fake and superficial that we long for the genuine version of something. We want people we can trust around us. People who "get us" and  don't undermine us. I think the first passage is a call to arms to remind us that if we want this from other people we need to be like that ourselves. It's no good expecting one standard from them and being flakey ourselves.

The word itself "Love" is elusive in meaning. When we use it it can have four or five shades of meaning, But for our love to flourish, as it is meant to, God wants it to be deeply anchored in what is good. We need therefore to keep him in sight trying to to let his love rule our lives and our behaviours.

It isn't easy and we must be realistic about it and acknowledge that every now and then we will fail and people we know quite well will also fail. By holding onto "the good" we see beyond our failures and acknowledge that the human heart is born to be noble. The good in people mostly outweighs the evil they do. As it says in the gospel of John "the light is stronger than the darkness."

Of course sin by it's nature is wrong. We are however called by Christ to love the person who sins. We can love them without condoning or "agreeing" to their sin.St Thomas Aquinas says - "To Love is to will the good of another" - to keep treating people with goodwill in difficult or perplexing circumstances is a sign of God's kingdom of love being built in us.

To give us strength to do this we look to the rock from which we are hewn. We are cut from the rock of God, the sure rock who saves us! A rock that is steadfast in whose cleft we can shelter when the storm comes. Not a crumbly rock! Because it is good quality rock that we come from it can take a while to quarry us. God is a rock of love ... from which more love can be quarried. 

Dear Lord, strengthen and purify my love. Lead me into your kingdom of love. Let me be real with people, whole hearted, sincere, loving and teach me how to eject evil from my life! Amen

Forty Years, forty days or forty seconds?

I have an Android phone and if I download an App for it I am happy if it downloads in forty seconds. My expectation is set at that level by modern technology. In the early days of computing our expectations were much lower. It could take hours to download new software and even then it could sometimes crash and the whole process would have to be started again. The expectation nowadays is instant results. But it is not that long ago that we had to work harder at all things. I remember hearing on the TV, on "Who Do You Think You Are?" About a couple whose relationship had started as pen friends during the war. They exchanged a letter a week with each other and some of the letters even got lost between the war front and home. Their friendship and love had to blossom into romance and eventual marriage with these inevitable gaps in between hearing from each other. I am not sure we could easily do that nowadays. But if something is good it is worth waiting for isn't it? The experience of waiting can promote a greater degree of understanding.

Now we are all probably in either a love or hate relationship with God. I have met very few people who are genuinely indifferent towards him.

He is an amazing God it is true, yet at the same time enigmatic and elusive. A God of mystery who sometimes makes himself very clear. Sometimes we just don't get him however hard we try. Some spiritual writers talk about a Dark Night of the Soul which can last for years, where they cling almost to their belief and memories of a merciful God, like those two lovers clutching their photographs, waiting for him to speak again.

Moses spent forty years as a shepherd before God spoke to him and called him. Maybe he needed that time to prepare himself to be open enough for the task that God had assigned to him. Or maybe it took forty years to develop the ability to hear the Lord.

Jesus spent forty days in the desert before he began his ministry. During the forty days the devil tried to distract him from starting his ministry by tempting him. The desert became a war zone between Jesus and temptation.

It seems that God sends us love letters all our life, sometimes they get intercepted between the war front and home and so we never get to open them or understand them. The ones we open - we sometimes understand and appreciate. Sometimes we write back and have an enthusiasm on our heart for a few days. Other times we think "that's nice" and put them to one side thinking we will reply later.

God is the "gentle invader" of our life. Seeking always to start a relationship with us, without forcing the issue. Because for love to be real it needs to be freely given and not forced. Sometimes we just can't see who or what is good for us. God is good for us! He heals us and makes us whole. He invites us constantly but our intentions and our hearts go astray and we can't answer. But still he calls us into relationship.

I realise I have spent a lot of my life blowing hot and cold for the Lord. But that has changed. I am seeking his face, his love in my life, his healing, his plan. Because I have discovered in my detours that, in fact , he is the ultimate good that I need.

No compromises any more, my yes will be yes, my heart is being converted - will you allow Jesus to break through your defences? May I be a man after your own heart. But it will take more than forty seconds. Possibly more than forty days. But if I listen it will be less. You at last have my attention Lord. Teach me to listen.

For Reflection
But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No." For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not "Yes" and "No," but in him it has always been "Yes." For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 2 Corinthians 1:18-22 NIV


Dear Jesus, I want more of you in my life. Help me to let you in. Keep fear out and let me know the love of God in a new way that makes me more compassionate. Amen

a year later .. on loss and finding

I find myself in a reflective mood. My blog was a year old this week, and also this week, God has been speaking into my life and the life of friends. Some are dealing with hard times and some dealing with moments of deep joy or inspiration. It makes me realise that nearly always our hearts are pulled in two or more directions.And there are regrets too! For a few years I had the privilege of being in active ministry of diakonia in a parish, that taught me something of the truth of St Paul's words "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." Romans12.15.NIV - some days the two experiences could be had within what seemed like a few seconds of each other as people arrived at the door. It makes me realise that God holds both the pain and joy of human life in his heart at the same time. The extremes of our lives and our loves are all exposed and known to him. His unquenchable love holds us close.

Chatting yesterday on the phone with a good friend I found myself saying again "God has been saying a lot to me since I moved to Ipswich, but I honestly think the truth is really that I have started listening to him again and that before I came here I had stopped listening." This led to a whole conversation.

Our God is super abundant! Sustaining and maintaining the universe each day by his powerful word. His continuing love is there for each one of us whether we choose to turn to him, or ignore, or disbelieve in him. God knows the very ebb and the very flood of our tides of our enthusiasm. And the riverlets in between.

So a review of the first year!

The call (read)

The most unusual "Stag" or "Bucks" weekend in the history of mankind! (House of Prayer) and (Iona)

Marriage! Yep I got married to an amazing woman

Two Mini Series

* Live by the Spirit
* Live by the Spirit - Prayer
* Live by the Spirit - Time Spent in the Word
* Live by the Spirit - Asking
* Live by the Spirit - Give Up Judging
* Live by the Spirit - Forgive
* Live by the Spirit - Our Father

* Guide Us Lord
* The Plan for Your Life
* The Plan for Your Life (2) Listen
* Take Action to Change

The tipping point - 2 blogs nobody challenged
* Tipping Point and Year of Grace - maybe they  were too Catholic!

Writing these have helped me to grow in faith, at times it has felt like being in a tumbler drier "for the Lord" and at others, in a washing machine with a block of cement. But the Lord hasn't finished with me yet! So you will hear more from me. What did I lose and what did I find? I lost a bit of my iniquity and found a spiritual inheritance.

He has his "Child Ipswich" in his sights! The dew of the Holy Spirit is awaiting his command to fall on this place. Listen you have understanding!

May the peace of Christ be present in your hearts, may he lift your soul, may you learn what it is to shelter in the shadow of his wings. Amen

Amos

I have been spending a bit of time with the prophet Amos lately. A prophet who could, in many ways, be speaking to our generation. A while back I took one of his passages and rewrote it into modern equivalents...

"Listen to this you who trample the needy and try to suppress the poor people of the world, you who say next month we will make a fast buck on the stock exchange. With insider dealing we will buy low and sell high, swindling the shareholders and the market. Also at the same time we can exploit the world labour market and pay pitifully low wages to people from another country who make shoes for us and then sell them here for seventy quid. If we are smart we can even sell the off - cuts to the fools. But Amos says I will swear by the pride of Jacob, God will not forget anything that you do! "

He challenges me to think again about God's attitude to the poor. The Psalm very clearly says "the Lord hears the cry of the poor, blessed be his name."

The pharisee within us might say that the poor are always with us. And use that as a comfort blanket so that we do nothing. But God's love should break through that and challenge us to "hunger and thirst for justice" and to be an advocate for the poor, who are unable to pay for their own food let alone their own advocate.
In modern Britain the politicians are quietly busy dismantling the work of the social reformers. Some of this might be justified. After all we have books to balance and bankers to satisfy. But we need to be careful that we don't make it all a money equation. The soul of the country needs to be invested in too. What is Britain known for these days? In our gentleman's clubs are we known only as "heroes of the wine bottle" - should we be better than this?

It seems that more of the poor sleep on our streets in modern Britain. Is that how we want to be known?

Dear Lord, help me to realise the harvest that my own actions will have on other people. Call me away from being insular and into a love relationship with God. Sow the seeds of peace in my life. Amen.

Can the Holy Spirit move you?

Can the Holy Spirit move you? Oh wow oh yes! Without the Holy Spirit my life would be drab. It is the main animator of my life in Christ.

I wonder did anyone see the discussion of this on The Big Questions on BBC1 Sunday 6th January? It was good to see a friend Michelle Moran there on the telly with two other Christians with experience. They were all from different Christian backgrounds but the one and same Spirit of God had moved them.

It was an interesting, thought provoking discussion but annoying because participants are never allowed to finish their points. This comment applies to both sides! If there are sides on a question about truth like this.

To me it is a spiritual reality or spiritual dynamic that God will allow his Holy Spirit to "move" you.. In fact much of the motive power of the Christian church comes from the working of the Spirit. It is the author of all healing and the secret ingredient of all evangelisation. The inspirer of the ordinary person just as much as the prophets, evangelists, teachers, servants "of the Lord" - also the same Spirit must I think have inspired the various Jewish Old Testament authors. Breathing God's truth into scripture.

- It inspired King David's dance of praise when his Mrs told him off.

- Moses got the ten commandments through listening to God's grace working.

- Paul wrote the chapter on love (1 Corinthians 13) under the influence.

-Pentecost day itself!

Oh my! Thank you God for sending your Holy Spirit daily into our lives. Thank you for your loving kindness, so great, so lovely, so tender, so heart warming. Thank you for changing my heart from stone to flesh through the Holy Spirit.

This same Holy Spirit can be renewed in your life for the asking. When we call on the Lord times of spiritual strength are possible. Equipping us for our daily lives.

For reflection:

John 14:15-17, 19-21 GNT

"If you love me, you will obey my commandments.  I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, who will stay with you forever.  He is the Spirit, who reveals the truth about God. The world cannot receive him, because it cannot see him or know him. But you know him, because he remains with you and is in you.
In a little while the world will see me no more, but you will see me; and because I live, you also will live.  When that day comes, you will know that I am in my Father and that you are in me, just as I am in you.
"Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. My Father will love those who love me; I too will love them and reveal myself to them."

The bird feeder

I was sitting yesterday eating my breakfast and watching the birds coming to the bird feeder. It was quite funny to watch their behaviour. The younger or smaller birds won't feed while the bigger ones are around. Although they might try a quick and sneaky peck while the bigger bird isn't facing them. Even the bigger birds have their own order. The female blackbird gives way to her mate. If the collared doves are around all the other birds vanish. I don't know if this is learned behaviour on the birds part or whether it is instinctive. So far I haven't noticed birds pecking each other at the feeder. The suet treats and other beneficence come from Debs and she is happy for any birds that want to, to just help them selves.

My thoughts then drifted off into human life. I was thinking that sometimes I hold back from doing things because someone I perceive as better is around and I think they should go first as they are better. Sometimes I hold back because of the throng. In families there can be a definite feeding order. And the youngest can be fed first. My friend Veronica told me that at parties sometimes, when the food might not be enough, the word might go out from her mum "family hold back" - that meant the visitors had to be allowed to grab the grub first.

In God's Kingdom things work differently in my experience. Everything is available for everyone. God has no favourites and his abundant blessing is available in full measure to whoever wants to come to the feeder. No one is better than anyone else. All welcome! We need to turn off our inner voice that says someone better than me should go first. And to understand that in Christ Jesus we are all made worthy. Our inheritance is there waiting for us as soon as we realise it.

Dear Lord, help me to accept your invitation for my life to be transformed. Amen