Who is your covering?

What is it with our obsession with who we are submitted to or who/what our covering is?  As long as we are answerable to someone then that seems to keep people happy, even if we reel off a list of names or organisations they’ve never heard of. As long as some human being can speak into our lives or correct us then that seems to be a qualifier for being a kosher Christian. If you are not part of a denomination or apostolic group or in some form of hierarchical relationship structure you are considered a loose canon, and should therefore be put out to pasture and ignored because you are obviously too rebellious and answerable to no one. Where do we get this all from scriptually? Is it really such an issue? Does it really make me more prone to error because I have no organised authority structure over my life? When you see the amount of adultery, money grabbing, error ridden people/’ministries within organised denominations and authority structures  I do not think so. It is easy for me to say I am a friend of Martin Scott or part of the Assemblies of God, but that does not guarantee I will not go off the rails. It may appease somebodies concerns, or even encourage their concerns, but this is not what submission or covering is all about surely.

Submission

One of the most abused words in Scripture. Wives submit to your husbands, do what they they want you to do. Serve them, feed them, look after them, have sex with them, submit. Young people submit to your elders, children obey your parents. Do exactly as they say, don’t question them, even if it is potentially harmful to your life, submit.

Yet Scripture talks of a mutual submission and it must be in cooperation with another vital ingredient, without this abuse and control is too often the net result.

“all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility.” 1 Peter 5:5

A mutual submission and in humility. Humble interpersonal relationships lived out under the mighty hand of God. And relationship must be key, without it there is no reality anyway. For years I lived under the banner of the Assemblies of God. I was trained in their Bible College, pastored two of their churches, was ordained and had my name in the yearbook, went along to regional business meetings and signed to say I agreed with the tenants. Now I had my covering. The Assemblies of God had another minister. After a period of about ten years here in Wales I thought about this accountability structure and realised it was just that a structure with zero relationship. The only time I heard from anyone in the Region was when the church had not paid the fee or I did not attend the monthly meeting. No one was interested in my family, how I was feeling inside or wanted to just go to a gig or a football match with me. There was no relationship at all outside the organised structure. How can there be mutual submission there? Was I any better off because my name was in their handbook than I am now with no organised structure around me? At least now I know who my friends are!!!

Spiritual covering

One day I saw something in Scripture that changed my thinking on Spiritual covering. Adam and Eve were in the garden walking in the cool of the day with God-paradise. Suddenly disaster, they ate from the forbidden tree. Their eyes were open and they felt shame, they were naked. They tried to make their own coverings, they tried to cover up. When God came they hid. When it comes to hide and seek God is a professional, He knows where we are all the time, but He wants us to confront and face that fact. Adam and Eve are found, they make excuses, the hole they are digging gets deeper. The result, consequences. But then something profound happens, God makes a covering for them out of animal skins. Blood is shed for the first time. A sign of what is to come, the shedding of blood for an amazing cover up. God provides the covering for a people who carry shame. Their spiritual covering by the shedding of blood.

Noah has been a man of faith. He has just walked in obedience by building an ark in the middle of nowhere. Has survived the journey with the animals, wife and kids, all locked up for more than 40 days (that was just the rain days.). On finally landing and getting grounded Noah seems to grow a vineyard just like Cliff Richard. He goes on a bender and ends up drunk. Ham walks in to find his father naked. The first thing he does is go outside and spread the gossip about him. Shem and Japheth take things differently, they are not impressed with the gossip. They walk in the tent backwards and carry in a garment. They put the covering over their father, they did not see his nakedness. Guess who received the fathers blessing that day. This is spiritual covering.  The great cover up.

Love….true Spiritual covering

“And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.” 1Peter 4:8

Peter quotes from Proverbs about what I believe is true Spiritual covering. Love. Without it there can be no covering. With it I am totally covered. It can only come through relationship that is cultivated and true. It can only come through friendship. It can only come through respect and companionship and walking together. It is not about just dwelling with like-minded people, but about dwelling with like-spirited people. People who love. People who look to pick up rather than pull down. People who want to gather rather than gossip. And to top it all the covering comes with blood. The blood of the perfect sacrifice. The blood of a love that covers a multitude of sins. True spiritual covering.

Next time someone asks who you are submitted to or who/what is your covering just say I am mutually submitted to and covered by those who love me. People of relationship and journey. And totally covered by God. The true love that covers…and covers a multitude of sins.

The church of everywhere

Want to begin this week with a quote I read yesterday in the Third Way magazine. This is from an article by Cole Moreton, an author, journalist and broadcaster.

“I’ve found this extraordinary church. You really should see it. Yes, I know those words can make the heart sink, but this one’s different. Honestly. The roof is as high as the sky, and the walls are as wide as the world. Rainbows dance behind the altar and a river runs down the aisle. The coffee is made with the finest beans (bought at the fairest prices) but you can have tea if you want, or chocolate or whisky. It’s okay, you choose.

The leader won’t hate you…Guess what? She’s you. Everyone is a leader in this church…There is no hierarchy. It has no priests, no money and no premises and holds no meetings, except by accident. Nobody wears robes. Nobody wears anything, if they don’t want to.

If it all sounds crazy, ridiculous and unlikely, then I have some news. This is not fiction, it’s a fact. This church exists right now. We may as well call it The Church of Everywhere, because that’s where it’s at. Everywhere and nowhere, baby. All rise for the opening hymn, ‘Hi Ho Silver Lining’.”

May not say it quite like that but when I read that my spirit leaped with excitement and encouragement. It is time for the church of everywhere. The church that embraces the aisles and the streets, the homes and the schools.

Church…what’s it all about anyway?

One thing that always amazes me is that being a Bible-believing Christian is a great statement to make to boast about how grounded we are in the Scriptures. We believe everything literally as it is written. That is until we face something that can confuse the issue a bit. Like this word ‘church.’ The word we use to translate the Greek word ekklesia. One day I decided to look at the definition of the word ekklesia and the history of the use of the word church, what I found was very interesting.

Tyndale in his original translation of the Bible into English never used the word church. Instead he used the more people orientated congregation. Ekklesia, when being translated, should never ever be about buildings or places to go. It is always about people. Literally a group of called out people with a common purpose. Strong’s Concordance says ‘an assembly called out of (our self-will and the flesh). ‘ In the 1800′s George Ricker-Berry in his interlinear New Testament never used the word church but assembly. Being about people it can therefore never be about where we are going, but it is about who we are. We cannot Biblically go to church because we are the church, the ekklesia of God. The called out one’s.

Called out from where?

Called out from the world? Can this really be true when Jesus said that we were in the world but not of it? Salt and light is about dwelling in places that need taste/purifying or light, not to be hidden under beds and bushels and in salt cellars (church buildings?). We are called out of our old order of life for self. The old systems and controlling places, and into a life that the Bible calls, more abundant. A life in but not of.

Roots of the word church.

The real definitive roots of the word church being in the Bible go back to King James and the translation under his gaze and in his name. King James gave 15 edicts to the translators when they were translating the Bible version we all know. Edict 3 was to retain the word church. He realised as a king he had no dominion or rule over the congregation, or the people as a loose concept of called out people, but he could over an organised church. Therefore he wanted the word in there.

The word church has it’s roots not in Biblical greek but in modern greek, from the word kunoton, lord’s house or building. Also could have roots in the scottish word, kirk, belonging to the lord, or the one I love, the latin word circus, need I say more. All have connotations of ownership or lordship, and therefore rules and control.

The Early Ekklesia

They had no buildings, so they couldn’t go to church. They spontaneously gathered in homes and in the open and in public places. They connected to pray and talk and encourage and learn. They broke bread in their homes, not with an officiating priest, but as the priesthood of all believers. As part of meals and fellowship and fun and love and journey. The Lord added to the ekklesia daily but they were members of nowhere, only members of Christ. Whatever they did they were the ekklesia of God. They could not stop being the ekklesia of God because they were it. Wherever they went the ekklesia went. That is why the aisles of Asda become the place of ekklesia, not because it is a place but because God’s called out people are there.

Asda-God’s house.

Johnson is a young man many miles from home. He lives here in the valleys with his wife and children, but he grew up in India. How he ended up here I have still to discover, but I love to share my journey with Johnson. He is a believer. He was brought up a Catholic. We have so much that could divide us over theology and culture but there is something that unites us even more. We are both followers of Jesus. We have shared teaching materials. We talk about family. We pray for each other. Just recently his wife was taken seriously ill and had to be flown back to India to have an operation (now that sounds strange to us westerners.). We prayed. He shared with me. He took time off. We stood believing for God to move as only He could. I am glad to say his wife is back in the UK and is gaining in strength all the time. Johnson is an inspiration to me and has become a friend. I will be tasting his home made curry very soon as I share in his home with his family. Ekklesia.

H is an artist. He loves nothing more than to paint and listen to music. We share much about faith. He is often moved by religious paintings and art. He acknowledges that there is a God and connects with Him through the realm of art. We often talk of music, from the Beach Boys to the Clash to Dylan, and we often talk of how church should be. He loves the concept of church outside the walls. I believe he is already part of the ekklesia even though he has not signed up for anything or responded to an altar all. Ekklesia.

Ekklesia just is. It just happens. I can’t neglect the gathering together because gatherings just seem to happen. As long as you remain relational gatherings will go on around you all the time. The church of everywhere is taking place. And yes that church is always going on in those aisles of Asda. But it continues when I come home at the end of the night.

I am part of God’s great ekklesia. And that is true wherever I am whatever I am doing. I am one of His called out one’s.

Evangelism!!!

What is it all about? Is it really something we do to get people into heaven? Is it really about special events, being relevant, the message of the cross? As a local church leader there is that unending pressure of building a bigger church. In my own denomination all funds came from the money people gave so the more people the more money and greater job security or even a miraculous chance of a raise next financial year, one miracle that often even the Lord could not make happen due to the resistant spirit of the elders and treasurer! Of course being so holy that was not the main motivation, it was to get people to sign up for heaven and come to my church on Sunday’s for starters. Then when they are really committed the mid-week meetings too.

Doing…

So much was done in the name of evangelism. The special events; Christian bands that played contemporary music (contemporary to who?), visiting speakers with dramatic testimonies about being ex-murderers, drug addicts, alcoholics (but no divorcees that was going too far!!!) and then finding the Lord, special services for Easter, Christmas, any excuse, with added Gospel message and decision time and the endless celebrity nights with big names who have become Christians like Syd Little, Dave Markee etc. All aided by posters, leaflets and personal invitations to come to our church this is going to be fab.

Outreach; door-to-door, ahead of our time now everyone tries to sell stuff like this, leaflet drops, questionnaires, open airs, doing church outside, and for the really radical picnics, barbecues and days out to the sea-side. Then for the big One-the big tent mission in the local park with an amazing evangelist who may even do some healing of back problems if we’re lucky.

Got many t-shirts to prove it…

Sorry if I sound a bit sarcastic, don’t mean to be. These are all things I have done so I am not pointing the finger. I have all the t-shirts. Where did this all get me? Maybe one or two added to the church in 15 years of doing the stuff. More money spent on doing and not seeing much for the investment. My fingers are well and truly burned.

And do you know what I have realised? Most of what we did was not introducing people to Jesus but was a gateway to my church, a shop window. If we are honest most of our outreach effort was in one phrase ‘come to our church’. And if we are honest the specials never gave a true reflection of the day to day life of a local church that never had artists or comedians in the pulpit, or people telling stories of how they met Christ, or young people expressing themselves with music relevant to them. The church service was run by preference or tradition of the leaders/members or both. We could all quote that church was the only institution that exists for the benefit of those outside, but really it was for our benefit because we liked it done that way.

Dwelling in the aisles of Asda.

But what do we do when we do not have a church to introduce people to? I think we finally wake up to the realisation that evangelism is not an event or a doing that introduces people to an imperfect bride, but Good News of day to day life knowing Jesus in and through every moment of every day. Not preaching at potential converts but loving and living shoulder to shoulder with other people who long to love and live.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Jesus could have taken us all up into the third heaven to help us make a decision. He could perform a personal miracle for us all to see. He could just let His glory shine right now and reveal his fullness to the whole of mankind. But instead He chose to dwell, to tabernacle, to live amongst us. To walk on our dirt, to live in a family, to grow up, to make friends and enemies, to be embraced and misunderstood. To experience joy, and pain, and death and life.Instead He dwelt amongst us. This is all we need to do, dwell amongst them. We have spent our whole lives building a seperate world of Christianity and church life where all Jesus wants us to do is be in them but not of them. To love and live.

Dwell…

This is what I do in the aisles of Asda, I love and live. And I have discovered that I have had more conversations about eternity over this last two years than I ever did as a pastor behind a pulpit. Wish I could have one of those amazing stories that you read of in books that says God sent His glory and weeping swept over the whole shop-floor and people were crying out what must I do to be saved. Or that God gave me a Word of knowledge that was so spot on that someone invited Christ into their hearts there and then. Revival has not yet come, but I believe revival has come!!! Love and life has come.

A couple of quick stories; Lyndsey started a conversation telling me she was an atheist. But she had many questions as we were filling those shelves over the next couple of hours. What do I believe? Who was Jesus? How do I know He exists? What do i think about church and all the hypocrites? Do I really believe in the death and resurrection? How did I get into all this? I answered her questions as fully and honestly as I could, and sometimes even admitted I did not have an answer about suffering etc. It turns out she got bitter when her sister lost a baby and took it out on God. How can He be a God of love when this happens? The conversation ended not with a signing up for heaven, what is that all about anyway. But what she said really blessed me. She ended by saying I do not really know if there is a God, I’m not sure. In one conversation she turned from atheist to agnostic, that is a major jump forward. I’m not there to get her to make a decision. I have realised we are all on journeys, and there have been too many premature births into the kingdom because we cannot wait to get the sign up.

Hayley is a young mother. She has a son who goes to Sunday school and asks her lots of difficult questions about God, Jesus, heaven, hell etc. What do i think about all these? Do I really believe all this is true? Again over a few hours of shelve filling we talked about eternity and eternal issues. There is a sense that she believes/wants to believe. We laugh, we share, we cover every subject under the Sun. For what is going on in her heart I do not have to do very much, her own son is obviously doing a great job of opening her up to eternal issues and the possibility of belief. The only worrying thing she said was, if I ever had a church in the Rhondda she would come along. Oh well that’s how it goes. Years trying to get them in and they run a mile, now someone wants to come in and I’ve got nowhere for them to go!!!

This is just a couple of the stories. There are more to follow in the coming weeks. More stories of the humble aisles becoming the places of holiness and Bethel. And there will be many to come as I keep dwelling amongst them with this Word in flesh. Who knows what conversations I may get into on tonights shift? But whatever I will continue to love and live and realise that the Good News so often speaks volumes even when my lips are sealed. Now that is evengelism!!!