Monthly Archives: August 2011

I believe in mission #3

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I wish I could say things that were as memorable as this quote I picked up from Leonard Sweet

Can the church stop its puny, hack dreams of trying to ‘make a difference in the world’ and start dreaming God-sized dreams of making the world different?   Leonard Sweet [Soul Tsunami, p. 16]

And of course in quoting it, ‘church’ is not out there… it is aimed at people like myself. I want to make a difference, but our perspective will shape what we do. Are we making a difference in the world, or to the world, or are we dreaming of a different world that is needing to be called through. Surely this is a mission perspective.

The ‘I have a dream’ speech of Martin Luther King hits this on the head. Dreaming of a world that is different. Dreams are painful too. Daily we watch people in the garbage bins – and people who are reasonably well dressed – hunting for something to sell and sometimes to eat. A different world has to come. This morning we began to read the ebook copy of a book I wrote a chapter for about 2012 and beyond. Hope is there, but also soberness. Dreams are needed. Gayle watched today a documentary of a young man born in the UK who turns radical Islamist. Driven by an ideology, and almost certainly with a desire for significance and community. He did not sound too different to some Christians. He is on a mission and was able to quote a ‘prophecy’ about domination.

Compassion for a new world to come must be at the heart of mission. How can we view it any other way when the resurrection, the firstfruits of a new heaven and a new earth is the foundation of our faith.

I realised yet again I do not dream enough of a different world.

Tomorrow we fly to the UK to stand with people who have a dream to see God touch kids who are written off, to see parents receive hope amidst painful circumstances. We do not fly in with answers. I doubt if we will meet people with too many answers. But I think we will be touched by Jesus who has not stopped the work of transformation.

If Sweet is right, or maybe if John really did see a New Jerusalem come down from heaven to earth, the scope for mission is enormous. We will not have time to try and make a difference in the world if we get caught up with that vision. A different world. What a thought.

I believe in mission #2

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It is amazing how great the impact of the early church was. Perhaps a growth that was around 40% per decade through the first 3 centuries. And actually that growth rate is not astounding, but it was consistent and I believe threatened the very structures of this world, of the Imperial world personified by Rome.

We want faster growth and we are not so committed to seeing the imperial structures challenged (indeed we have often deified them). But this is changing in many parts of the world. There still will be incredible seasons of growth in parts of the world as ‘revival’ sweeps in there. But where revival has touched the growth rate has slowed enormously today (check out Latin America / Africa for example).

All of this is positioning us for a more-similar-to-the-NT-type of context. Multi-faith inside imperial structures that are rising and falling, with some appearing to have a fatal wound to the head but rise again – yes I cannot read Revelation any other way than the most impacting of critiques about imperialism. So maybe the mission will come to the forefront – it must – but in a new way.

We had a great encouragement lately. Lunching with someone who is able in measure to track some of what is happening across Europe, he said that as far as they can work out where there is a simple expression of Christian community (let’s not illegitimise anything) there is a growth through conversions currently of around 20% per annum. And this is most marked where a few people have gone in with business at the forefront. Across Europe: encouraging or what?

Our culture is dying, yes there will be resurrections, there will be proclamations of ‘how great the western world of capitalism / democracy is’ (and make no mistake I would far rather live in that context than in an oppressive regime elsewhere, but let’s not confuse it with kingdom economics and culture), but overall there is something dying. The context is coming our way – this is what we have prayed for.

And like all who have gone before us we will not necessarily be immune. Even Elijah’s water supply dried up post declaring a drought. For the kingdom to advance the nation where we live does not have to succeed. The hope for humanity is not a particular nation.

So if the above is even slightly accurate we have to think of mission holistically. If Jesus is Lord there is a new world that we inhabit that is seeking to break through into the dying world all around us. Everything that breaks through will not carry a Bible verse tag justifying it – indeed how can we put a Bible verse on some marketing whose goal is just to make money?

Could we return to a 40% per decade growth? Maybe if we are also committed to a more holistic approach where our lives are our message. Where faith in Christ means death, where self-preservation and self-enrichment are denied.

I believe in mission #1

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Thanks for reading the most profound set of blogs on faith ever… or maybe better put as ‘thanks for looking in on a set of musings’. Even if this is pretty shallow it is so important to nail what we believe, or at least explore it. Then comes the challenge of living in the light of it.

I do believe in mission. From as far back as I can remember I have always wanted to make a difference, always been challenged by the biographies I have read. And of course my perspectives have changed (developed?) since then.

So seems to me there are a few questions that would be good to look at:

  • what is mission – or what is our mission
  • who is involved in it
  • what is the goal (cos we must have goals… we can’t just live!!!)

So to get right into it. We need to make a connect between the creation mandate (multiply, rule / care) and the great commission (go into the whole world). We need to sanctify the whole of life, in the sense of what we do is holy – we are set apart for the Living God – so we must get rid of the false sacred / secular divide. The ‘call’ has to be applied to all we do.

Mission is not simply ‘saving souls’. The proclamation that we make is ‘Jesus is Lord’. Through his death and resurrection there is a new world coming into being, he is the firstborn of all creation. That proclamation is an invitation to people to find their place as co-workers. It is a call to see themselves as significant, as those who can receive the Spirit, come into relationship with the Father, see everything differently, be impacted by a new way and then live from that.

So how is the proclamation made? Some ideas might be:

  • our lives have to be a proclamation. So as we live in the culture there should be some aspects that leave people with questions? Where we live, what we do, who we see, what happens to the stuff we steward.
  • the tasks we are involved in is mission. (This is where the blogs about ‘work’ come in.) Once work is removed from the ‘work=make money’ connection we can think creatively about what we do.

I once had a young fashion designer ask me to pray for her (don’t know why she did not ask me for some fashion advice – but maybe that will be a future request). I said what a wonderful job for someone in touch with heaven. The resurrection is your inspiration (2 Cor. 5… resurrection body = being clothed). Clothing that suits a person is intended to help them become who they are. That is mission. All true work is mission.

Yet mission does not end when work ends, for life does not end when work ends.

To know Jesus, is to know the Father and is to come home. So yes indeed there has to be a burning desire for people to discover Jesus, his reality, his love.

There is no need to make a divide between what we do and what we share. We are not just in mission when we ‘witness’. We are witnesses. Yet living without speech would be strange. Mission:

  • finding people of peace
  • eating what they eat
  • healing the sick
  • proclaiming the kingdom has come near

Mission is challenging, it can be fun, it can kill us!!

The call of land and people can be so strong. I can remember saying to God that I would become one of the people he was looking for to take responsibility for the sins of Europe. Now thank God that is on the basis that Jesus has taken responsibility for the sins of the whole world. We do not repeat that… but how about intentionally living in a way that helps undo the effects of history? Oh yes. Mission.

The Traveller’s Rest- Viva La Vida

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Viva La Vida lyrics
Songwriters: Berryman, Guy Rupert; Buckland, Jonathan Mark; Champion, Will; Martin, Christopher A J;

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own

I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy’s eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing
“Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!”

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

Picking up the brooms

Last week Cheryl made this comment about picking up the brooms. It was a comment that resonated with others, including myself. It reminded me of the lyrics of this Coldplay song Viva La Vida. The song is a real prophetic statement that almost becomes a theme song for the emerging landscape. Who would have thought that Chris Martin and his co-horts would be prophets in the margins? God’s voice gets everywhere with those who have ears to hear, especially amongst the artists.

I Used to Rule the World

…seas would rise when I gave at word. Amazing how there was a time when I really thought like this. The Word is sharper than a two edged sword! At my Word such and such will happen because I have dominion over people, stuff, situations. Pray in the name of Jesus and anything will happen. I never signed on to the name it and claim it brigade but I often acted that way anyway because I believed that with Jesus I could do anything, the impossible. Well do what I wanted to do anyway, and try and get what I want to get. Not giving a thought for who may get hurt, trampled on, rejected at my expense. I called it authority. Authority over the enemy, opponents (people who just thought different to me most of the time), sickness, disease, situations. Tell the mountain to be removed and it will cast itself in the sea. Funny how we always interpreted that as stuff that got in the way or stuff we didn’t like. It always seems as if someone who starts walking in dominion walks in domination, superiority. I have been told this by God so I have His seal of approval to do what I like, no questions asked. If anyone questions me they are not in the flow and are tools of the enemy to try and get me off track. Never mind we shall prevail because God is on my side. I have the whole weight of the heavens standing with me. My vision, my word of the Lord, God has told me. I have shouted at mountains, people etc. Remember once a guy came into a meeting who was totally stoned and he started interfering with my great sermon that I had taken hours to prepare, God’s now word. I got well miffed, the people needed to hear God’s word. So I shouted at him rebuking this spirit and that spirit. Who did I think I was? What a fool!!! But I ruled the world. Thankfully he was too stoned to take any notice and we ended up talking often. We became the only place that would not throw him out or ban him. I ended up taking many funerals for his friends who sadly died of overdoses or alcohol abuse. Not a nice thing to do but bridges were built. But we could stop the sea from coming in. King Canute eat your heart out!!!

Long ago, England was ruled by a king named Canute. Like many leaders and men of power, Canute was surrounded by people who were always praising him. Every time he walked into a room, the flattery began.

“You are the greatest man that ever lived,” one would say.

“O king, there can never be another as mighty as you,” another would insist.

“Your highness, there is nothing you cannot do,” someone would smile.

“Great Canute, you are the monarch of all,” another would sing. “Nothing in this world dares to disobey you.”

The king was a man of sense, and he grew tired of hearing such foolish speeches.

One day he was walking by the seashore, and his officers and courtiers were with him, praising him as usual. Canute decided to teach them a lesson.

“So you say I am the greatest man in the world?” he asked them.

“O king,” they cried, “there never has been anyone as mighty as you, and there never be anyone so great, ever again!”

“And you say all things obey me?” Canute asked.

“Absolutely!” they said. “The world bows before you, and gives you honor.”

“I see,” the king answered. “In that case, bring me my chair, and we will go down to the water.”

“At once, your majesty!” They scrambled to carry his royal chair over the sands.

“Bring it closer to the sea,” Canute called. “Put it right here, right at the water’s edge.” He sat down and surveyed the ocean before him. “I notice the tide is coming in. Do you think it will stop if I give the command?”

His officers were puzzled, but they did not dare say no. “Give the order, O great king, and it will obey,” one of then assured him.

“Very well. Sea,” cried Canute, “I command you to come no further! Waves, stop your rolling!. Surf, stop your pounding! Do not dare touch my feet!”

He waited a moment, quietly, and a tiny wave rushed up the sand and lapped at his feet.

“How dare you!” Canute shouted. “Ocean, turn back now! I have ordered you to retreat before me, and now you must obey! Go back!”

And in answer another wave swept forward and curled around the king’s feet. The tide came in, just as it always did. The water rose higher and higher. It came up around the king’s chair, and wet not only his feet, but also his robe. His officers stood before him, alarmed, and wondering whether he was not mad.

“Well, my friends,” Canute said, “it seems I do not have quite so much power as you would have me believe. Perhaps you have learned something today. Perhaps now you will remember there is only one King who is all-powerful, and it is he who rules the sea, and holds the ocean in the hollow of his hand. I suggest you reserve your praises for him.”

The royal officers and courtiers hung their heads and looked foolish. And some say Canute took off his crown soon afterward, and never wore it again.

Sweep the Streets I used to own

For many to step off the pedestal would be unthinkable, but Jesus did. To take away the raised platforms and pulpits, the places of authority and rule and dominion. To cast the crowns down not just at Jesus feet but at one another’s feet and take on the role of a servant. To swap the spotlight for a sweeping brush. To exchange the glory for the margins. To give up the accolade for silence. To neglect the shouting at the devil and the world for the whisper of love. To wake up alone rather than run with the crowd. People will not believe what you have become but this is not about appeasing people. Serving is never about the glory. It takes some adjusting when you are so used to the attention of living as a king, but once adjusted it is so liberating, so life affirming. You realise that before you thought you were ruling but really you were ruled by systems, structures, walls. Now I realise that it was for freedom that Christ has set me free. Sweeping the streets I used to own is liberating. What that means to one will be different to another. Just open your eyes and serve. Serve the world you find yourself in. Begins with the people you live with and then continues from the doorstep. Whatever your hand finds to do… I so relate to the lyrics in this song. There was a time when I stood on the mountain overlooking the Asda store and claimed this land for Jesus. Declaring dominion through revival and prophecy. I was recognised through some places in the valley for carrying an anointed prophetic word and gifting. The crowds shouted long live the king. Now I fill the shelves on a night shift in the valley I used to own. People couldn’t believe what I’d become. But I pick up my broom and serve this valley. I sweep these streets in my own way. The place I shouted and declared at I now walk amongst. And I believe Jesus does too!!!

Reconstructionism – is it really influential?

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Not sure how many have come across the term ‘Reconstructionism’, or authors such as R. J. Rushdoony, Gary North

In my 1997 thesis on The Eschatology of the New Church Movement, I gave a section to their work as they were influential on some aspects of the House Church Movement in the UK. ‘The Chalcedon Foundation’ was set up in 1965 with a primary aim to ‘promote biblical Christianity in an age of apostasy’. And they gave themselves to the work of ‘the rebuilding of the institutions of society according to a biblical blueprint’..

At the heart of its teaching is a theonomy that maintains Old Testament law is the means by which all society is to be governed, refusing to limit such law to Israel as a unique theocratic state.

I have long been fascinated by the possible / probable influence of such prolific writers as Rushdoony and North on the wider charismatic scene. I am neither a pessimist about the future nor do I believe in isolating ourselves from the institutions but a clarity on how we engage them is vital.

There are massive flaws in the hermeneutic. Israel paid a tithe (well not exactly when you work it out, but that is another issue) so a government that charges more than 10% is immoral and idolatrous. We might object to levels of taxation but the use of the OT in that way is bizarre!! [And always so little mention of Jubilee!!]

‘Turning the other cheek’ being a temporary response until there is a re-ordering of society is to totally marginalise Jesus.

The real issue I have with it is the total failure to make Jesus the total hermeneutic for Scripture, and for God and for humanity. We can only understand Scripture when Jesus is the lens being used. And likewise we can only understand God when we do the same. And the call for humanity is his image.

So why the comment on Reconstructionism? I do so as I am fearful about some of what I hear. Yes there are major biblical principles embedded in OT law that are very enlightening for society. Yes we need believers in every sphere of society. Yes faith belongs in the public square. Yes yes and yes.

But the yes has to be centred in on Jesus. Lives given for others.

For the Gospel to succeed we do not need (or certainly God does not need) a successful Western world. Success will not be measured by my survival, and certainly not by the triumphing of my ideas over others.

Thank God for public servants with faith. For those with convictions. Yet I remain convinced that change takes place at the grass-roots level through the hidden faceless people.

I will watch the forthcoming few years with great interest. Watchful and prayerful. The crisis is not about to end… I suspect the crisis is not at its heart a financial one, but a crisis that is revealing the poverty of christendom. In its dying process my guess is it will exhibit a lot of strength. If so confusion will abound, suggesting ‘we’ can take back what we have lost. Perhaps we have lost the ability to go the second mile, to turn the other cheek (neither of which is passive response).

We are certainly alive in the most interesting of times, and I am very thankful for the prayer movements of the past decades that have been used by God to shake what can be shaken.

Emails and prayers

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I had a very encouraging email this past week from a couple spending half their time in Crete. What an island with a history. Place of mission past and future. I replied and I want to include part of the reply below as the wind is blowing and seeds are being blown in different directions:

We pray often for the ‘tens of thousands who will be relocated throughout Europe as forerunners for a new wave. Many of whom do not know why they have moved, many of whom are disconnected, many of whom move without knowing why… but they are part of a faceless people who are being dispersed across the land.’ We know that has begun.

Is the end of the world drawing near… part 2

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Yesterday I lifted the first part of this article from Ian Farr. Today the second part with a focus on the body of Christ.

Is the end of the world drawing near: part 2

In the midst of all this is the church of Jesus Christ. The amazing thing is that there, generally the situation is “business as usual”. People attend meetings week after week where the “bigger picture” is seldom referred to, or if it is, usually with a bit of “tut-tutting” or “let’s pray about it.”

But the church as we know it is very much a product of that world that is passing away. In the words of theologian Walter Brueggemann, “the church is so fully enmeshed in our dominant culture that freedom for action is difficult.” Strong dominating and controlling “top-down” leadership; a striving for bigger and better buildings; wanting to be the best “show in town” are often the things that characterise the church today. Repeated exhortations for bigger and better “offerings” and more diligent tithing have become commonplace. Oh, I am sorry if I sound a bit scathing, but this is the situation I often see around me here in South Africa. It seems that the church has become so much “of the world” and little “in the world” rather than the other way around as Jesus would have us to be. And that world, of which it has become so much a part, is passing away.

Again, I owe to Brueggemann the metaphor of 587 BCE, when the world of the people of Judah was coming to an end, the temple was about to be burnt, the city destroyed, the land lost. But this was the will of God for the people! Most of them could not, or would not, believe it could happen. How could they, the chosen people of God, be dealt with in such a way by their God? We read that the prophets of Judah were saying, “Peace, peace – all is well. The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” Jeremiah alone seemed to see the reality. There is no peace, because of the great injustice and unrighteousness with which the people have been comfortably living. The temple is finished! “The order is rapidly fading.”

Be it far from me to claim to be the Jeremiah of my generation, or to claim any likeness to that great man. However, I am bewildered and troubled by so much that I am hearing (and so much that I am not hearing) coming out from the church. The message so often seems to be, “All is well, come and get blessed, get rich, be healed and made prosperous. In the church is the answer, the church of the Lord, the church of the Lord.”

But all is not well. “The order is rapidly fading.” In Europe and to a lesser extent in USA and many other parts of the world there is a huge drop-out rate of Jesus followers from the institution of church. Many, especially “church leaders”, bemoan this fact, and use words like “rebellion”, “insubmissive” or “backsliding”. Yet as I have met and talked with many of these people, I have frequently found a deeper love for Jesus, and desire to follow him, than I have met among many who are still in the institutions. People are often finding each other in deep and meaningful “relationships for purpose”, rather than simply being in a room together once a week in an impersonal way. To some, this will seem “out of order”. It is – it is out of that old order that is rapidly fading, and, I believe, it is of God. The world as we know it is being shaken, and that shaking is under the hand of God. While I grieve the passing of something I have been part of all my life, which has nurtured me, and provided me with so much over the years, at the same time I rejoice with a great sense of expectancy and hope for the future. Out of all this, I believe the true church will arise. Not as another institution, or the latest fad, or following the latest “Christian super hero”, but as true salt and light in the world in a way that effectively “enlightens” as it spreads out into the world with powerful love and subversive living and speaking.

Can I believe that the church can be the real enlightenment as disciples of Jesus together live out the ways and values of God’s kingdom?

Difficult as it may be, but, Yes, I believe I can.

Is the end of the world drawing near?

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[Intro from Martin: A time back Ian Farr sent me an article he had written. I thought this article resonated with much that is written here so suggested that I put it up here, and will do so today and tomorrow. I have known Ian for many years and been impacted by how he and Gwen have sought to follow the finger of God that has taken them into new territory (spiritual and physical). Currently living in South Africa.

The first blog will cover the social and global background, the second some comments about the church.

All that follows in this blog and the subsequent one is from Ian's pen.]

Is the end of the world drawing nigh?

Lately I seem to keep meeting people who tell me that we are living in the “last days”, and that Jesus is coming back very soon. While I heartily agree with the fact that we are in the last days, (Peter told us that on the day of Pentecost!) as I listen to many of these people, I cannot help feeling that there is more desperation and escapism in what they are saying than real hope. I have also noticed that even the South African Media has picked up on a recent prediction that has been flying around declaring that the world is going to end sometime during the month in which I am writing! (May 2011) If you are reading this, you can be pretty sure that was wrong!

Yet the more I have thought about this in recent days, the more I have come to the conclusion that these people are, in fact, right. The world as we know it, and have known it for many generations is coming to an end. I am not talking here of some great apocalyptic or cataclysmic cosmic event. I believe that as the 20th Century was drawing to a close, we were seeing the slow, but sure, demise of the modern world of the Enlightenment.

Now, before you jump and condemn me as “just another of those terrible post-modernists”, can I say that I am not really schooled in understanding what these various terms mean. I certainly have not studied or fully understood what “post-modernism” is all about. I am more of an observer of what is happening around me, and a “feeler” of things rather than a deep thinker.

The world, as we have known it, since the Enlightenment has been one which has been concerned with control through knowledge – scientific, economic, political and psychological. From the incredible advances in these areas, none of which I would want to undo, man is, or was, supposed to have “come of age”. What it appeared to do, however, was rather highlight the selfishness of humanity – protection of and provision for self, and destruction of “the other”. Those individuals or nations that were best able to “harness” the advances and discoveries have used them to dominate and control others, to line their own pockets, and to devise ever more powerful weapons of mass destruction and methods of exploiting the very earth itself. Poverty, hunger, suffering, deaths from preventable diseases, and so many more “plagues” have afflicted the people, especially the poorest, of this “enlightened planet”, not to mention the increase of war and meaningless bloodshed. So much for “coming of age”.

The “age of reason” has also been the age of empire building. Empires have risen, and fallen. The European Nations, once individually so strong, have all lost their great sway, and can only just hang on by the skin of their teeth by uniting together. The latest, and perhaps the greatest, is the American. They have dominated their “empire” not as the Europeans had done before them by a military and commercial presence in all their conquered nations, but by using their great economic power, backed up by their military power to try and control trade, especially oil production, to their own advantage.

But it is all shaking. The wars, first in Vietnam (which takes us back many years), and later, the “war against terrorism”, have shown how limited in actual fact the massive powers of the USA really are. The recent execution or assassination of Osama bin Laden, so celebrated in the streets of the towns and cities of the USA, would seem to be simply the turning of another page in an increasing drama of senseless violence.

Elsewhere we have more recently observed the amazing happenings beginning in Tunisia, spreading to Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere – and who knows where to eventually? In these situations ordinary people, using the “power of the internet” which is beyond the control of the Empire builders, have begun to say “enough is enough”. These “people movements”, so unpredicted, so “out of order” with the thinking of the “moderns” is another “shaking”.

Then there is the economic. The financial collapse of a couple of year ago was again an almost “unseen”, unexpected event. The mythical bubble of never ending growth was well and truly exploded. Although we hear the oft repeated statements of governments and financial institutions of “recovery”, somehow, most of us remain unconvinced. My own feeling is that before the end of this year the dominoes are going to start falling once again. Maybe the virtual bankruptcy of Greece that has been confirmed as I am writing this, is the first of those dominoes to go, and will be quickly followed, I feel, by various other European countries. Even “mighty USA” is shaking. As they have tried to print money to get them out of their hole, the truth is that the hole has got deeper. China has been buying up USA Government bonds at quite a pace, I am told, and should they begin to sell… Well, I do not understand all this “economic-ese” but I gather things are very dodgy. Meanwhile India, it seems, has been in a position to stock-pile gold!

A line from an old Bob Dylan song, “The Order is rapidly fading” has been going through my head again and again over the last year. Perhaps it is more relevant now than it was when Dylan sang it in the 60’s. The world we have known is definitely fading.

The Traveller’s Rest- Nero Fiddles While Rome Burns.

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Urgency in the emurgency

I am sure many of us in the U.K. and across the world have seen the images of the rioters across the streets of London and a few other cities. Shop looting, burning, gangs on the rampage, violence, hatred towards authority figures, the images have been haunting and stirring to say the least. The reason given about the roots of the violence are no longer the real reasons, just an excuse for the angry to display their anger infront of the public glare. In these days of  mobile phones and cameras and CCTV every movement is recorded and beamed across the airwaves around the globe. This of course creates fear, anger, copyists and reactions from every factor. Violence on our streets in not a new thing. Here in the Rhondda Valleys there were the famous Tonypandy Riots during the time of the miners strike. Parts of London and other cities still reel from the race riots of the 80′s. This time though the hate was aimed at property rather than people the majority of the time. A friend who runs a small independant record label in London lost his complete stock in a fire to a distribution warehouse. Our nation is hurting and is in chaos. The wheels on the bus are beginning to fall off. They were not put on very tightly in the first place. We as the people of God need to wake up and smell the coffee. There is an emergency. The cry of the cities of the Nation has risen this week. The pain, the hurt, the anger. The cracks are showing. It is time for urgency. There needs to be an urgency in the emurgency. The alarm is sounding out loud and clear from a broken, dispirited generation. How are we as the people of God going to respond? Will we be like times at work the fire alarm goes off for a fire drill and everyone looks at each other and wonders what is going on. Some do not even recognise the sound of the alarm. Oblivious. Customers carry on shopping. The church carries on thinking about the decor, the songs for Sunday worship, the next good sermon to preach, even the next evangelistic campaign. They do all this while an alarm bell is ringing in our society. The Gospel will bring hope they proclaim. This is true, the Gospel is the only hope, but it can only bring hope when it touches the flesh of the hurting. It cannot remain hidden behind pulpits and walls. It is not about standing around street corners with leaflets and sandwich boards. It is realising that we are carriers of an ointment in our an-ointing. A healing balm. We have to stop being like Nero and realise that we cannot keep fiddling while Rome burns. The church game has to stop and the vision for the streets needs to begin. Just moving the furniture around and updating is not going to make our building a different home. The underlining issue is so much bigger than that.

An Ointment in the An-ointing

Whether we realise it or not we are carriers of peace. Whether we realise it or not we are carriers of the water of the river of life that can quench. Conduits. Whether we realise it or not we are carriers of words of hope and life. Whether we realise it or not we are His hands His feet His face to the broken. I asked the question what could I do? I have stood with my friend who has lost all his stock. I do not know what his beliefs are but I do not need to to minister hope and love. I invested a small amount into his company. My small is a drop in the ocean, but no drops make no ocean. This is not neccasarily a time to preach Christ but to be channels of Christ. A world built on the wrong foundations will always break at some point. There is a shaking going on in all sectors of life. We as the church know that we have not escaped the shaking. But the important thing is our response at times of crisis. Are we looking to lay blame like the rest of the world? The police, the politicians, lack of jobs, multicultural society? No one is to blame other than ourselves. It is time for the Christian rapid response team. Pray, yes pray, but kneel in the brokeness of someone’s life while we do it. Kneel in the dirt of a broken world crying out for redemption. Times like this need to make us realise that much of what we fight for is not worth the fighting. Much of what we do is for personal gratification and not to grace the world. The alarm is ringing. Where were we when the cities cried out?

Prayer of Saint Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen

Crisis: debt ceiling or debt?

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The crisis in the West is not over. Language is so interesting. In one sense when we talk about a debt ceiling being raised it all-but tells us there is no ceiling. And the real crisis is not the ceiling it is the level of debt that the Western world is living with.

As many of you are aware I am living with two shaping dreams for this decade, one that indicated it would be a decade of great rebalancing, and the other that we would live through façades continually opening to reveal what was there, and each time as they swung back into place the foundations would be weakened.

We must look for the redemptive hand of God in all this. Fear is not the response. Sight of the trouble is not the response. We must lift our eyes higher. This does not mean the absence of personal hardship but can mean the presence of intimacy.

There will be an increasing post-institutional-expression of church in the West. A freeing from structures that will take place, rapidly followed by the same thing taking place in the Southern hemisphere developing nations. This makes it even more important that we understand our call is to help shape the gates of influence, not from the top, but from the bottom, the sides and even as watching onlookers who pray prophetically.

A new world is bursting forth. An old is decaying.

When the forms of an old culture are dying, the new culture is created by a few people who are not afraid to be insecure (Rudolph Bahro).

Friends of Jesus

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I had a phone call today, a good friend to many, Ralph Somerville has passed on to glory. Ralph and Ruth – in my books extraordinary people. January 9th., 1977 I drove to their house. Sue and I were moving to be part of a Christian community that shaped our lives enormously. We were engaged to be married and Sue was to live with Ralph and Ruth for the next 5 months. Months that helped her and I find our feet.

A couple back then who were remarkable. We were fed and looked after there many times. Ralph was Mr. fix-it in an unbelievable way. ‘Your car needs the points adjusting’… ‘the what?’ I would reply. Those things he could do with his eyes closed. Off to Brazil he went, with photos of a combine harvester and parts. Fixed that, then sorted out a tractor in the local workshop that was not working… Practical, oh yes.

But with a passion for the world. In 1990 they hosted a certain couple who influenced many lives, Dale & Jean Gentry. Prophecies about mission. Well, Ralph and Ruth have carried such a heart for mission, for supporting people where they are. A remarkable couple.

Ralph was with me on the first weeks I ever did of ‘sowing seeds for revival’. What a support he was then and subsequent. Those weeks were the beginning weeks of there being a rare physical problem that eventually brought about a severe restriction to him and to Ruth. They both looked to the Lord for healing, kept focused. It was a always a blessing to enter their home. Depression was not there, hope prevailed.

Thank God that we can read:

So you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns.

They exhibited hope at all times. We prayed many times for Ralph. I am sure he would still say, go on praying never give up, it is worth it all.

For now, he has entered glory. He is at rest. His anointing – and Ruth’s for mission – will remain. No death in faith is without value. I salute the warrior Ralph. And I honour the woman who has walked in intimacy with her Lord these years. We are all the richer for knowing you both.