“And God saw all that he had made, and it was good”
District Ministers retreat
At the moment I am away on the bi-annual District Ministers retreat at the Swanwick Hayes conference centre. I thought you might like to see the view from my bedroom window. Lovely isn`t it ?
We`re having a very thoughtful time led by Rev Martyn Atkins, General sec of the Methodist Church. Beginning with his reflections of 34 years in the Ministry and what he feels he has learned during that time there have been some interesting observations; some I can understand and others which I might want to challenge.
This afternoon he spoke of the marks of Methodist discipleship, covering areas such as fellowship, connexionalism, scripture, prayer, an awareness of Gods prevennient grace, and much more. It’s quite fascinating, but I`m so aware that it might come over as boring to my readers so I won`t go into detail.
However I have spent some time today reflecting on why we actually do this. When I was at college one of my friends from my former life complained that Methodism was wasting its time “pumping unnecessary theology” into its students instead of simply giving them a Bible and letting them loose !! At the time I was knee-deep in theological essays, worship reading, counselling training and I was tempted to simply agree with him.
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So why do we do it ? Well, I`ve come to a position of realising the truth behind the words of Albert Einstein who said “the mind is like an umberella; its only of use when it’s opened”. The Bible reminds us that we have been made in the image of God, and he expects us to use everything he has given us to his glory. Well if we don`t use our minds and stretch them then we`re not fully giving everything to God. If I didn`t try and stretch myself and give my mind regular exercise it would go a bit like my belly !! Flabby and not a lot of use !
Secondly, a closed mind is the first step towards fundamentalism; the failure to listen or study the other persons point of view disrespect them as a person created by God. It doesn`t mean we have to agree with them but we should at least hear them. Over the years I have softened my stance on various things, taken up a new stance on some and become more hardline on others. In other words I have changed as a result of God speaking to me through scripture, prayer, fellow Christians, dialogue and good quality reading.
Thirdly, whilst I believe that Scripture is God speaking to us, I sometimes need a hand understanding it. That comes through exploring with others rather than casting anything I don`t understand to one side.
And so I look forward to another day tomorrow of listening, discussing and reflecting and I pray that I and my Ministry will be all the better for it.
A forgiving God in a gale devastated world
Two photographs which stand in sharp contrast to each other. The first is from a friend who suffered the loss of her garden shed in the recent gales. The next door neighbours fence panel blew over and took out her shed, thankfully whilst sparing the greenhouse which would have been next in line !! By contrast the second picture was taken this morning outside Skegby Methodist Chapel as they opened their premises for their monthly community coffee morning, which was quite full of people and was raising money for `Action for Children` a Methodist children’s charity. Each month they choose a different charity to send the proceeds to.
Why am I highlighting these two occasions ? I think that in their own way they show the contrasts in the world. Some will go through life reaping havoc wherever they go by their selfishness, self-centredness, egotistical hedonism or by their careless and thoughtless lifestyles. The media shows all too graphically for us what happens on weekends in many of our towns and cities where young men and women seek an alcohol fuelled temporary experience only to wake up later to discover broken relationships, unwanted pregnancies, ill-health and so on. Of course this is a sweeping generalisation but to many people this is a normal experience which they would describe as `enjoyment` but there is no thought to the potential consequences on other people, let alone themselves. We find the same with speeding car drivers, drug users, and the list goes on.
By contrast the people of Skegby, and many other places, show us the benefits of a lifestyle lived for other people. This morning there was laughter, fun, good conversation and `gossip`. I spent some of the time talking to a gentleman who was visiting for the first time and was seeking companionship, and an elderly couple who were considering joining the Church as they had received a lovely warm welcome. Peoples lives were enriched by simply dropping in for a coffee and a bacon butty ! All because of the desire of the Chapel folk to serve the community in some way and raise funds for a much-needed charity at the same time.
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Today their desire to serve their community will have resulted in many folk feeling good about themselves and also many children who have little or who live in situations of abuse and violence will feel the benefits through the money raised.
Which camp do I want to be in ? Without a shadow of a doubt I want my life to be one lived FOR other people and not one lived IN SPITE OF other people ! In tomorrows worship we will make the annual Methodist Covenant, which is our annual renewing of our promise to serve God in our lives and in this world. It contains many challenging phrases and when people take it seriously it is quite hard to live up to, and so it should be. It demands quite exacting standards of the followers of Jesus. The central part of the service contains the following promise …………………….
‘I am no longer my own but yours.
Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing,
put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you,
or laid aside for you,
exalted for you,
or brought low for you;
let me be full,
let me be empty,
let me have all things,
let me have nothing:
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours.’
That opening line “I am no longer my own, but yours………..” sums up the choice we have between living for ourselves which is almost inevitably hedonistic or living under Gods direction which will always be to put Him and others first.
I fail often to keep that promise but tomorrow I`ll be saying it again, meaning it again, endeavouring to live it again, but thankful in the knowledge that we have a loving, forgiving God who picks us up from the gutters of life when we get things wrong, restores us and gently says “now let’s have another go, shall we ?”
Flash Mob Eucharist
As many of you know I find Facebook a great tool for prayer, for keeping up with friends, and also for challenging thoughts. Today a friend posted a YouTube link up and it stunned me with its simple power.
The link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cZ5aYoSr3Hg&gl=GB
I hope it connects for you. Use it as part of your private devotions, but also marvel at the opportunity that the Fransican monks took in Preston last year in doing this.
So often we try to create evangelistic opportunities, we plan and prepare, we figure out costs, we strategise and nothing happens, but sometimes God is simply asking us to proclaim His Word in a non threatening way without haranguing people or Bible bashing. This guy simply performs the sacramental act of holding up the Host (the bread representing the body of Jesus) and another reads out Scripture; at the end they pack up and walk away without seeking anything in return, neither money nor converts.
What have they done ? Quite simply they brought the presence of Jesus into the shopping centre of Preston. Notice how many stop and kneel, some for a short while others for the whole episode, but they all take the opportunity of pausing in their busy lives and adoring Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Oh, if only the Methodist Church would reclaim some of its heritage and find ways of drawing alongside the community and bring the presence of Jesus into the centre of communities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ5aYoSr3Hg&feature=player_embedded
New Year Statistics
I`ve just recieved my annual review of this blog. If you`d like to look at it then follow this link
http://mikeredshaw.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?yib=2011
Boxing Day Blues
I always find this day a strange day. After all the build-up to Christmas, all the festivities on the day, the food, the booze, the t.v. and most importantly of all the opportunity to worship with others the Lord Jesus Christ, I find that today is something of a non-entity. Every fibre of my being wants to be up and about working or at least pottering and yet I`m expected to sit and do nothing.
Image via CrunchBase
Wikipedia describes today as a day traditionally set aside for wealthy people to give a boxed gift to their servants, but as fewer and fewer people have servants these days the original meaning has been lost and forgotten. Consequently, it is a day remembered only for the obscene amount of retail activity as the sale season begins less than 48 hours after the Christmas shopping has finished, AND ALL OF THIS IN A TIME OF RECESSION !!!
Normally Alison and I manage to relax on boxing day if only by being incredibly lazy and putting ourselves down in front of the tv watching some mindless film. However, we have had Alison’s Mum staying with us over Christmas so we have spent a lot of time trying to keep her company. Today, Alison had to go to work and I had already arranged to go and see the football at Alfreton Town with Rebecca, so Freda was set up with a recording of her favourite ballet “The Nutcracker Suite”. When both Alison and I got back we simply sat talking with her about past times and so we relaxed in that way.
Also this afternoon, just to show what a mixed day it was, I took a difficult phone call about a distressing pastoral situation within my circuit. I found this quite upsetting and I am trying not to take it personally as a betrayal of trust. It goes to show that even on a national holiday such as today, I still have to be concerned about my people. This is what many fail to understand; it is hard to `switch off` when you truly care about a body of people. It means you take time at a more relaxed pace whenever you can but you are prepared to pick up the pace when necessary. That is Ministry.
And so its been a mixed day, enjoyable in parts, frustrating in others, and downright angering in others, but in so many ways this is life isn`t it ? God never promised any one of us that life would be a bed of roses and often it is anything but. This life can be absolute rubbish at times but at others pure enjoyment and awesome. And this is the world that our Lord Jesus stepped into; not a sanitised perfect world, nor an absolutely evil world but a world which contains a mixture and variety of situations, emotions, responses and so on. Praise God that He was prepared to come out of the glory of Heaven into such a world as this.
Miracles ? You want to see miracles in order to believe ? We`ve just celebrated the greatest miracle of all, the love of God becoming incarnate in the stable, leading to the mixing with societies outcasts as well as leaders, and ultimately leading to the cross to die for you and I. Maybe Boxing Day is a day of reflection over that miracle.
I pray that as you reflect on the last few days with all of its happenings, you will come to the same view as I do………………..that God is truly to be praised. Hallelujah !!!
Happy Christmas
One of the `blessings` of this line of work is that there is always “just one more” job to be done. I`ve switched the computer off three times now and even told colleagues that I won`t be switching it on again until after Christmas. However, thats not the way it goes……………………..
I`ve come back online simply to wish everyone a very happy and blessed Christmas. I know I`ll see some of you shortly at Bethel, some at Stonebroom at midnight and some tomorrow at Swanwick, but to everyone in the Borders Mission Circuit (the best circuit in the Nottingham and Derby District) and to all my online readers may I wish you all a very blessed, peaceful and joyful Christmas.
As we remember the Holy Family who became refugees in a foreign land let us think this year of all those displaced away from their natural homes, those on the streets of our cities and towns, those in fear of going back to their own countries etc. There are many refugees in this country and world for whom Christmas is not easy. Let us pray they recieve the comfort of the Christ child.
As we remember the horror and evil of Herod in the Christmas story, let us recall those caught up in violence and prejudice this year, the ongoing conflicts and those engaged in them, the tension of the Korean border and we pray for peace and safety, expecially remembering our troops serving in foreign fields.
As we remember the joyous wonder of the shepherds let us give thanks for the miracle of the incarnation and the awesomeness of our Lord and Saviours birth in the stable. Let us never forget the sheer depth of love that brought him out of Heaven with all its riches and lory, into the dark, smelly stable with its poverty and dirt, and let us give thanks that he was prepared to do that for us all.
Don`t lets reduce Christmas simply to a round of eating, drinking and partying, but let us remember that in the middle of it all is a TRUE cause for celebration; Jesus Christ himself.
I pray that Christmas will be for you all a very special time and a time when special memories are made; a time when you and your l
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oved ones will feel the peace of Jesus. God bless you all.
P.S. as I write this the Norad website tells me that Santa is over the Philippines at the moment, flying over Zamboanga !!!!!! Thought you`d like to know………………..
Jesus
Greatest man in history named Jesus, had no servants, yet they called him Master.
Had no degree, yet they called him Teacher.
Had no medicines, yet they called him Healer.
Had no army, yet kings feared Him.
He won no military battles, yet he conquered the world.
He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him.
He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.
Are you going to worship him this Christmas time ??
Daniel`s Gloves
I don`t know if this is true or not, but it touched my heart when a friend sent it to me in an e-mail today. I pass it onto you gladly and pray God will touch your heart also………….
I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the town square. The food and the company were both especially good that day.
As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street. There, walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read, ‘I will work for food.’ My heart sank.I brought him to
the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief.
We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind. We finished our meal and went our separate ways. I had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them. I glanced toward the town square, looking somewhat halfheartedly for the strange visitor. I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call some response. I drove through town and saw nothing of him. I made some purchases at a store and got back in my car. Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me: ‘Don’t go back to the office until you’ve at least driven once more around the square.’
Then with some hesitancy, I headed back into town. As I turned the square’s third corner, I saw him. He was standing on the steps of the church, going through his sack. I stopped and looked; feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to drive on. The empty parking space on the corner seemed to be a sign from God: an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out and approached the
town’s newest visitor. ’Looking for the pastor?’ I asked. ‘Not really,’ he replied, ‘just resting.’
‘Have you eaten today?’
‘Oh, I ate something early this morning.’
‘Would you like to have lunch with me?’
‘Do you have some work I could do for you?’
‘No work,’ I replied ‘I commute here to work from the city, but I would like to take you to lunch.’
‘Sure,’ he replied with a smile. As he began to gather his things, I asked some surface questions. “Where you headed?’
St. Louis ‘
‘Where you from?’
‘Oh, all over; mostly Florida ..’
‘How long you been walking?’ ‘Fourteen years,’ came the reply.
I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in the same restaurant I had left earlier. His face was weathered
slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling. He
removed his jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, ‘Jesus is The Never Ending Story.’ Then Daniel’s story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early in life. He’d made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences. Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had stopped on the beach in Daytona… He tried to hire on with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert, he thought. He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert but revival services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He gave his life over to God
‘Nothing’s been the same since,’ he said, ‘I felt the Lord telling me to keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now.’
‘Ever think of stopping?’ I asked.
‘Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me But God has given me this calling. I give out Bibles That’s what’s in my sack. I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads.’ I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a mission and lived this way by choice. The question burned inside for a moment and then I asked: ‘What’s it like?’
‘What?’
‘To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign?’
‘Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a
gesture that certainly didn’t make me feel welcome. But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people’s concepts of other folks like me.’
My concept was changing, too. We finished our dessert and gathered his things.
Just outside the door, he paused He turned to me and said, ‘Come Ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom I’ve prepared for you. For when I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in. I felt as if we were on holy ground. ‘Could you use another Bible?’ I asked.
He said he preferred a certain translation. It traveled well and was not too heavy. It was also his personal favorite… ‘I’ve read
through it 14 times,’ he said.
‘I’m not sure we’ve got one of those, but let’s stop by our church and see’ I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do well, and he seemed very grateful.
‘Where are you headed from here?’ I asked.
‘Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park coupon.’
‘Are you hoping to hire on there for a while?’
‘No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that star right there needs a Bible, so that’s where I’m going next.’ He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his mission. I drove him back to the town-square where we’d met two
two hours earlier, and as we drove, it started raining. We parked and unloaded his things. ‘Would you sign my autograph book?’ he asked… ‘I like to keep messages from folks I meet.’
I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had touched my life. I encouraged him to stay strong. And I left him with a verse of scripture from Jeremiah, ‘I know the plans I have for you, declared the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you; Plans to give you a future and a hope.’ ‘Thanks, man,’ he said. ‘I know we just met and we’re really just strangers, but I love you.’
‘I know,’ I said, ‘I love you, too.’ ‘The Lord is good!’
‘Yes, He is. How long has it been since someone hugged you?’ I asked.
A long time,’ he replied And so on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my new friend and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been changed.. He put his things on his back,
his winning smile and said, ‘See you in the New Jerusalem.’ “‘I’ll be there!’ was my reply.
He began his journey again. He headed away with his sign dangling from his bedroll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned and said,
‘When you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?’ ‘You bet,’ I shouted back, ‘God bless.’
‘God bless.’ And that was the last I saw of him. Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried to my car. As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them… a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid over the length of the handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and wondered if his hands would stay warm that night without them.
Then I remembered his words: ‘If you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?’ Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office. They help me to see the world and its people in a new way, and they help me remember those two hours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry.
‘See you in the New Jerusalem,’ he said. Yes, Daniel, I know I will…
‘I shall pass this way but once. Therefore, any good that I can do or any kindness that I can show, let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way again`
Image by Sean MacEntee via Flickr
Pub Praise
It’s amazing how things come along to give mixed emotions. At about 5.00 p.m. this evening I opened an e-mail to find out that I hadn`t been accepted to carry the Olympic Torch; you can imagine how disappointed I was and then doubly so to find a young 20yr old lad who organises charity events on behalf of the fight against cancer was also turned down. I really thought that Iain would have been accepted, for he is an ab solute credit to his generation.
The Station Hotel
So it was with some disappointment that I made my way to The Station Hotel in Westhouses where the Chapel had arranged to sing carols in the pub. Don`t ever tell me that some older ladies and one man cannot do anything for the Gospel. They all turned out in force, met the villagers, sang carols, allowed me to speak and tell dodgy jokes and at the suggestion of the landlady a collection was taken up which raised £86 pounds. The Chapel have decided to give this money to our local Leonard Cheshire home in Alfreton.
Kevin and Tracey from the Station Hotel were magnificent in letting us go in in the first place, in providing soup and sandwiches and combined with the mince pies from the Chapel it all made for a glorious evening.
I linked the carols with a little of the nativity story and some jokes, but no sermon. It all went well. Some from the pub have said they will come to the Chapel carol service next week and Kevin and Tracey have invited us to join with them again in the Spring for another event, and later to have the Harvest festival in the pub.
To think I started out with disappointment I have to admit that I am now on a high; this sort of evangelism is what I was made for. After the evening I was asked by someone “why did you choose to go into the Church as a career” to which I replied that I didn`t choose it but I felt that God had chosen me ! I was then able to give my testimony in a low-key way.
Wow, Christmas has really started with a bang this year, and all because 7 elderly ladies wanted to share the love of Jesus.
