Update

I was walking to the station this morning. It's a 30 minute walk so I often listen to the Daily Audio Bible as I wander. I hasten to emphasise that is because I am a sinner and not a Saint. I need to orientate myself first thing or the day goes badly. Anyway I was happily listening to the 1 Samuel being read and getting into it... When without touching my phone the player swapped over to a sermon from the Elevation Church in Australia. Not a live broadcast but from a Sunday. The guy starts to preach.

To begin with I was irritated and thought grumpily I had better swap back to Samuel. But the guy said he was preaching on "why there is suffering" and at that point I thought I had better listen to it.

I made some notes. They are not very perfect and I am sure he said other stuff also - I might add a link and listen again. Especially if God wanted me to hear it I need to get every drop from it.

It spoke to my heart about the daily struggle between being the good version of ourselves or the bad version. I haven't been plotting evil as such - but sometimes it gets harder to see clearly what we are doing and we start going down an unfruitful route.

1. John 16.33  ‘I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’ and from elsewhere where it says "nothing can separate us from the love of God"

2. No bad decision is beyond redemption. Sometimes we say "what's wrong with me" * do note Paul was right with God yet he suffered.

3. Isaiah 48.10 "the refiners fire" is like wearing active wear -when we are suffering everything in our lives is revealed. Every blemish in our life! - he used quote from J L Packer "God hates the sins of his people, and uses all kinds of inward and outward pains and griefs to wean their hearts from compromise and disobedience. Still he seeks the fellowship of his people, and sends them both sorrows and joys in order to detach their love from other things and attach it to himself."

4. Romans 8:28

I will tidy this up later and add a link to the sermon. Judge for yourselves...

By the way the J L Packer quote feels like a driving lesson for my life....

Have a beautiful day!

Breath

Today I learnt that I take about 17,000 breaths a day. Most of those breaths are taken unconsciously. Breath in, breath out happens without me being particularly aware of it. The body is a strange and wonderful thing. The design or thoughtfulness of its construction is amazing. I came into the world over 61 years ago. Naked, probably crying I came. Somehow expelled from a womb where I hadn't been breathing air. Umbilical cord broken and then the shock of breathing in the new air of life. Ever since then, breath in, breath out.

Since then I have acquired possessions, which I have either lost again or worn out. Or disliked and thrown away. I don't currently own any possessions that I had on the day of my birth. Apart that is my body. If indeed you own your body or consciousness. Is it a gift or on loan? My mother and father should know but neither can I ask today.

Since then I have loved and lost. Lost and loved, many people. Lived many places. All the time, breath in, breath out. Heart beating. Some people I have been friends with and loved a very long time. My sisters have known me the longest.

I feel I must have had a creator. My mother and father co-operative with God's materials brought me into being. As I said all the stuff or the possessions that were man-made have passed. The constant is a body that grew cell upon cell in my mother's womb. Heart beating.

Breath of God, breathe on me. These morning thoughts are bringing me to knowledge of how fragile and precious our life is. And yet my breathing is happening as I write without my conscious intervention.

Dear God, I thank you for the gift of my life and my love. Help me to renew my commitment to live, to live in love and to the fullest. Breath of God, breathe on me and the town where I live. Send your creative Holy Spirit to make us more for you and your kingdom. Amen

Declare a holy fast! Joel 1.14

If you forgive me the opportunity for a play on words.

To declare a fast for Jesus, for God , is to put on our "go faster stripes" and to train for a deeper spiritual life.

Claire preached to us last Sunday about the reasons for fasting . And we heard from a witness about experiences at the International church.

To fast is to expect more from God. In my experience there is always more! God your ever loving father always wants to give you more. He never wants to give you less.

Do you dare to take from the hand of God? Do you dare to go deeper and let the heart of God speak to your life?

Matthew chapter 25 is about this sort of thing, it divides out into two sorts of subjects "having" and "giving."

On the having front we have all been given access to the full riches of God. He doesn't hold back and doesn't have favourites. He gives to each one who chooses to be his the full riches of God's glory. We can have it all. One day at a time.

The parable story about bags of gold in this chapter is about what we do with his love. Do we hold it like gold? Holding it to our chest hoping that no one will wrestle it away from us? Or do we give it away?  Squander it almost, because we know that there will always be more? Always there will be a fresh infilling of the riches of God for those who give away those riches. That's what Jesus is getting in his teaching, we need to understand that, and realise we are not in a spiritual famine where we need to hold God's riches back for some rainy day future. God gives! we use! Keep nothing in the storehouse God is our sufficiency.

So we have and we give, without fear or favour. We Share God's riches with the the wealthiest and also with the poorest of the Poor.

Matthew 25 "what you do to the least of my Brethren you do to me."

So this coming fast is an exciting opportunity to go deeper into the heart of God. To hear from him at a deeper level.

For reflection
* listen to Claire again
* are you going to pray 7/12/7
* who can fast with you?
* full fast or partial?
* look our Burlington Web page for the fast

* read the book of Daniel 

"I want my people to give a damn"

Walking to leadership prayer last Thursday morning I asked God if he wanted to say anything. Immediately the words "I want my people to give a damn" came into my mind. I think I interpret that as Jesus wants his disciples to care very much about the things of God. To "hunger and thirst after righteousness"  in the same way Jesus did. I then found myself asking the prophets continual question is that word just for me (as it might be) or is it for the body of Christ?

When I got there. And we started praying I was prompted to read Psalm 135. God put the actual Psalm reference into my mind. I read it aloud not knowing what it was going to say. It seemed to resonate with what we had been talking about. And then Jonathan said that it reminded him of a passage that had been in his prayer times a lot recently.

This being 2 Chronicles 20. Which led to a fruitful discussion for the two of us.

It seems that when we do obey God things happen. The work of the Holy Spirit gets carried along that bit further. The fact that the Psalm meant something to Jonathan also had the side effect of bolstering my faith too. We so often cry "show us the work of your hands" or variants thereon but forget we are already the work of his hands. With the same Holy Spirit dwelling in us. I have a sneaky feeling that the more we obey the promptings of the Spirit. The more we are blessed.

Yes, yes. God really is in the small things. But an accumulation of small things becomes a big thing. God is in our "yes" when we dare (or perhaps bother) to say it to him.

And yes God you are right. You want your disciples to "give a damn". If that translates as "to care" - you want us to care a huge amount about the poor. Both the spiritually poor and the materially poor. You want us to harbour your kingdom in our hearts. To share your kingdom and to build it. And to care about it at an extreme level. To love with passion and without reserve.  To allow our own heart conversion to spill out to others, through loving action and listening and talking.

An example of God building on small acts of obedience is our Missional Community which we call Impact. That started because Cherie acted out of obedience and knocked on the door of the hostel that first time. I remember her saying she didn't know what she was going to say until the door opened.

Who are you God to work in such a mysterious fashion in our lives? Oh yes, you are yourself the origin of love. The place where love flows out from. Bless us O Lord. Bless us this day. So we may respond. AMEN

Wait in the city!

Now what, Easter is over is it time for us to relax?

To follow Jesus is always a tension between action and meditation. He invites us to act but also he invites us to be with him in the garden praying before significant moments. Watching with him. Listening even to his breathing or even to his crying for humanity. This morning I find myself thinking what use is a watchman if he doesn't watch? If he doesn't stand with Jesus before his betrayal or at other times. What use is a watchman who doesn't cry with Jesus at injustice , or rejoice with him for every blossom on the juniper tree.

After Easter what? Like the disciples we should wait in the city. Yes even in fear maybe. Jesus words were "And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven." Luke 24;49 NLT

Be like Habbakuk and dare to dream, dare to believe. Dare to hope. Dare to wait for the quickening of the Holy Spirit in your life. His prayer was:
"Lord , I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord . Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy." Habakkuk 3:2 NIV

As you wait in the city dare to pray for a new pentecost in your life. Ask for a new in dwelling of the Holy Spirit. A new strengthening, A fresh compassion for others, a heart for love. Come Holy Spirit dwell in us afresh. So that we may build your kingdom here on earth. So that the line between heaven and earth may become blurred. Blossom out into our lives again. Fill us again with the joy of your Spirit for your glory. Bring your love. Bring your healing in your wake. In this city Lord. In your people. We pray for an overflowing of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus name! For now Lord. For this time! Amen

Season of the Spirit

I confess that winter really is my least favourite season. Although there are some aspects of it that I like. For example, the English countryside on a cold frosty morning can be amazing and inspiring. Watching ducks and other waterfowl waddling around and quacking at each other, pecking at ice can be fun and invigorating. I hate forever,well it seems like forever, going to and from work in the dark. December can be a weird mixture of fun and a certain angst or sadness remembering people you can't be with. January launches us into the unknown New Year. We break through into a brand new year like ducks pecking at the ice.

What this Watchman is noticing is that 2015 has a different spiritual atmosphere to it. It's true already that some people are going through a very difficult time. But in addition to that is an awareness that spiritually speaking this year is different. Yes! I dare to promise you, in the Lord's name it will be different.

God wants to gather us in. We need to be aware of that. To make it more personal God wants to gather you in! He is calling out to you across the ages. Calling to you through the person of Jesus Christ. The itinerant healer, who lived and died for you. Who rose from death and was seen by five hundred of his disciples.

Lean into Jesus this year. As the Psalm says "lean not on your own understanding," lean instead into God. Let him speak to you about the things of the Spirit. The things of God. Turn to him and face up to him. Invite him into your life. Admit your emptiness and ask for an incoming of the Holy Spirit to bless and refresh your life.

All this seems somehow impossible to you. But God is the God of the possible, who formed you in your womb and brought you to life. I am inviting you to experience again the true life of the Spirit. Just as you knew it before the world pressed in on you with it's darkness and doubts. Believe in your inner most being that this life can be different. I invite you to say "Maranatha" with me. This ancient word is spiritual shorthand inviting the presence of Jesus and means "come Lord Jesus" into our lives.

Maranatha, we ask you Jesus arrive in our lives. Speak to us as priest, prophet and king. Bring with you healing and reconciliation between people. Come and speak to our spirits about the mystery of divine love. How you want that love to take over our hearts and live in us. The time for bitterness has gone. The time for forgiveness has arrived. To be forgiven and in turn to forgive others. Understand this and take it to heart. This is a different season of the Spirit. May Jesus be present in your life. May you find wholeness.

For reflection:

• The words of St Margaret of Scotland "Take for your motto: love has conquered me, it alone shall possess my heart"
• "What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like." St Augustine of Hippo

What happens when people meet Jesus in a real context

"As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”" See context

Matthew left his job to follow Jesus. He didn't work out a period of notice. His encounter with Jesus was enough to knock him off the normal course of his life. Bless him, he was a tax collector, in those days fairly despised individuals known for their corruption and for taking an extra cut from those that they were collecting from. He was by his tax collectors booth! This was a portable construction that was set up where he was collecting his tax. All a bit more vulnerable than we at first think. He must have been challenged by Jesus to leave this and also torn. Do I hang on to the money or follow the Holy Man? Well he became one of the twelve - so he must have opted for the life changing option to follow Jesus. What would we do I wonder?

To encounter Jesus at that time was something that knocked people off the normal course of their lives. I believe this was because Jesus personality was so arresting that you had to stop in your tracks and say to yourself. Who is he? Is he for real? What is he offering?

Well what Jesus offers is something that is contrary to the material world's values. The Good News is something for our spirit, something for the inner man or woman. That lifts us up and alters our lives and changes them for the better. To live outside Christianity is to live a life without hope. To live as a Christian implies a commitment to change.

Yes, Jesus comes to sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes to the shock and dismay of the Pharisees, but it is so that he can bring the healing power of God's love. As he says he comes as a doctor into their lives. He doesn't feast with the Matthews of this world to pick up tax collecting hints. He doesn't feast with prostitutes in order to pimp. He is at the feast because he has something of real value to give he is offering rescue.

To the Pharisees he says 'Go and learn the meaning of the words what I want is mercy, not sacrifice.'

The irony is that the Pharisees were sinners too. The difference between them and the others were that they didn't know it. They were too busy looking at other peoples lives to assess their own.

If you look at the gospel again you will see that Jesus is ministering to everyone including the Pharisees.

This is why his ministry is so effecting. It speaks to everyone and to us - even now across time. The quote he offers the Pharisees is from the Bible. From the book of Hosea, which says 'What I want is love, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not holocausts.'

That is interesting isn't it? In Old Testament times, before Jesus came, they used to try and appease God by killing and burning animals as a sin offering in the hope that this would put them right with God. But even then the Prophet Hosea says that God doesn't want this kind of material response. He wants us to change so that we love more. This requires a change of heart - are we ready?