Everyday Church (1) - Aliens!

There are such things as aliens.  I should know, I am one.   That's why I don't quite fit in.  I'm a bit too different to the people around me.  They sense I'm not quite one of them and it makes them uneasy.  Which is why they sometimes get uptight around me and that comes out sometimes with mocking comments or some verbal abuse.  No, not talking about church meetings, (although...) but echoing what Peter says about Christians in his letter to the churches.  Christians are aliens, foreigners, strangers, amongst the rest of the world.  We don't fit in and so life is sometimes uncomfortable, indeed, downright dangerous in some parts of the world. 

We're reading Everyday Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis as a church leadership and I am using it as the basis for a sermon series on a Sunday too.  Fabulous book and full of good and godly wisdom.  I plan to blog through the series but would urge you to read the book.  Way better than my sermons or blog posts. 

Chapter 1 open with a survey of landscape in the western world.  Writing from a UK perspective, the tide is out.  there was a time when church attendance was much higher than it is (though, of course, that isn't the same as being a Christian), Sunday School was attended by the majority of kids and the church (for good or bad) had a great deal more power and influence than it does today. 

The last census figures (2001) show that 72% of people say that they are Christians and yet a Tearfund survey in 2007 say that 70% of people say that they have no intention of going to a church.  Something doesn't quite stack up there.  Be interesting to see what the 2011 census figures say, I believe that they are due out next month.

Stuart Murray outlines the differences between the olden days of Christendom and the situation today.  He describes the change for Christians as being:

1. From the centre to the margins
2. From majority to minority
3. From settlers to sojourners
4. From privilege to plurality
5. From control to witness
6. From maintenance to mission
7. From institution to movement

As they never quite said in the Wizard of Oz:   “Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Christendom anymore”.

We came up with an extra one while we discussed this at a Deacons Meeting:

• From respect to ridicule 

At one time the church and the Christian faith would be respected by most, whether people believed or not.  Now it's pretty much open season.  There's nothing new under the sun though as a first century piece of graffiti shows. 

 

The inscription is "Alexander worships his God." 

 

As Chester and Timmis write, “Rather than assume we should have a voice in the media or on the high street, we need to regain the sense that anything other than persecution is an unexpected bonus.”  (40)

 

All a bit gloomy?   Well the situation is pretty close to the one that Peter's readers found themselves in and the church seems to have grown hugely since then.  Perhaps we just need to find a new way to do church.  Next up, Everyday Community.

 

Disclaimer

Part of my reason for blogging this series of sermons is to make sure that folk from the church who miss some of them can be in the loop.  The views expressed are not necessarily those of the church, the value of a sermon can go down as well as up, terms and conditions apply.

    

Reconciliation

Long time, little in the way of blogging, in large part because there has been a lot going on that it would be wrong to blog about. There has been trouble at the mill which made it necessary to have a morning service of Repentance and Reconciliation on Sunday, a time to forgive one another and move on.

It was largely very successful, the weeks before had been well spent by some to have some difficult conversations that had previously been avoided. In the service we looked at what Jesus has to say about our need for reconciliation (Matthew 5.21-24) and how we go about being reconciled (Matthew 18.15-17).

That second passage in particular is very practical and clear instruction.  It’s also very scary and so we often chicken out of doing what we are told to do in these passages. 

There are things we are told not to do – don’t pretend that everything is alright, don’t slip away from church without telling anyone why, don’t grumble and gossip about the situation.  Jesus doesn’t even tell us to win the argument, just to win the person back; be reconciled.

As a leadership team we have taken good advice from others in our position (and more importantly Jesus!) and repented of listening to anonymous feedback.  This has been crippling us for some time and so we needed to make clear that we will listen to and engage with anyone who brings any complaint to us, we will make every effort to listen (a word that comes up four times in those three verses) and respond accordingly, whether it’s to explain, clarify, apologise, or whatever. 

But we will no longer respond to anonymous feedback of the nature “a lot of people think” where those people are not prepared to say who or to be identified.  (From experience, “a lot of people” can mean anything from most of the church to a single person.)  Such feedback gets us nowhere.  We don’t know who is upset, how many people are upset, why they are upset, how strongly they are upset, we don’t know who we are supposed to listen to and talk to and we have no opportunity to work together to be reconciled.  It leaves the person or people with a complaint feeling frustrated too because no-one seems to be listening or caring and nothing changes. 

So, confessions of a dysfunctional church leadership, that was how we were and we made things harder for ourselves.  We have repented, turned from old ways to new ways – better ways – and are determined to do it the way that Jesus says, face to face, graciously, gently, boldly, lovingly, honestly, openly. 

The full sermon that was preached on Sunday can be listened to here or downloaded under Reconciliation here.  Pray, all the time, that you never need it!     

The dangers of preaching...

 

When cricket umpires preach?

I was preaching yesterday about Jesus' command to 'love one another' and pointed out that this is as old as the hills, referring to where God's people were told to do this in Leviticus.  Or I tried to point that out. 

Genuine laugh out loud moment this morning on receiving this email today.  I'll leave you to look up the passages to see why:

Hi Steve,
Good sermon on Sunday morning!
If you ever preach it again though you might want to revisit the second slide in your presentation.
I think that you probably meant to quote from Leviticus 19 v 18, however the actual verse you wrote on the slide was Leviticus 18 v 19. It added a whole new perspective to the point you were making........... :-)
Best Wishes,
Dave

Woman only speaks for 25 minutes!

On Sunday morning, my favourite parishioner preached for the first time on a Sunday.  She has spoken to groups before, children, pensioners, people in between, but she has never preached on a Sunday, in a church building, to men and women, using a lectern. 

Some people that I love will be joyful at the opportunity she had to speak on Sunday, some others (who I also love but disagree with) will be upset that a woman preached on a Sunday.  I suspect that most people in church aren't all that bothered either way and that most people outside the church must wonder what we are like if we are even still having this conversation.  

It has been interesting on my sabbatical to visit churches that have been recommended to me as places doing a good job. Every minister I have spoken to has been gracious and generous with their time and thoughts.  I've asked each one if women preach at their church.  Each has said that they do (although the overwhelming majority of preachers are men) and that it's not an issue for them as a church.  It's of particular interest to me as we are in the middle of discussions as a church about this very thing.  We've been studying the Scriptures as a leadership and trying to work out what they say because, like it or not, neither side of the debate can say that it is straight forward.  It's not altogether clear.  I, and most of the church leadership, are happy to welcome women preachers.  This is most definitely not a pragmatic decision but based on what we believe the Bible allows.  Being the kind of people we aspire to be (i.e. family), we'll need to sit down as a church and discuss it before we make a final decision.  There may well be future blogs on this. 

Back to Sunday.  She did  a terrific job and I am left thinking that there must be something that I can do better than her.  If she's this good the first time...  More seriously, I also wonder why some people would be happier to have a less able/gifted (male) teacher in the pulpit on a Sunday.  Pragmatism isn't the reason for our decision but you do have to consider that the church is missing out where it is not using gifted women in this area of ministry.   

As I was saying...

Yesterday was my last preaching engagement for four weeks and, I have to say, I am probably even more pleased than the congregation. It has been a bit of a struggle to make it over the finishing line but now I have a week's study leave to read, walk and try to catch up on my sleep, and then three weeks holiday - can't wait.

Yesterday my text was the last section of Ephesians 3 where Paul prays for the church not in terms of their physical needs but that they might be strengthened in their inner being. So I talked a lot about how the inside is much more important than the outside and how we should be focussed on that.

Three lots of feedback. One that someone was glad I had shaved off the beard I had been growing and two people who tell me that I have put on weight. Mmmm.... the irony.

Confession

After a great deal of good solid spiritual reading recently, which I have yet to blog, I am currently reading the collected Father Ted - The Craggy Island Parish Magazines. To quote the good priest himself, "It is disappointing when one spends up to twenty minutes preparing a sermon that one hears rumours to the effect that I am not taking the whole 'sermon thing' seriously."

I am generally as diligent as I can be in my preparation but for a combination of reasons - only some of which are valid - my second sermon was very underprepared. Between two and three hours at the most and so I never got to the stage of completion, let alone editing. Despite all this I managed to get up and speak for about twenty minutes.

Last night I got away with it, not a great feeling, though I'd confess to a slight feeling of relief but certainly not good for me - or my people. It worries me that I can get up and talk for twenty minutes with so little preparation. Not a nice feeling and - thankfully a very rare occurance. I need to keep it that way.

Where are the women?

I've been really enjoying the sermon a day thing (I know, I'm odd) but as I update it each day was aware straight away of how male the list was going to be. Today I listened to a terrific sermon by a female of the species. All four have been good but this was perhaps the best so far. (I have to be careful here because I know each of them!)

Begs the question, where will I find other good preachers who are women? For obvious reasons - lack of opportunity, lack of experience - we have a rich heritage of men who preach well but far fewer women. If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'd be very grateful.

Make a meal of it

Last week I preached the last in the series of Meals With Jesus and a few days beforehand a survey came out that reveals some alarming things about how today's families eat. The research, commissioned by Bisto, says:

* More than half of families no longer eat their dinner together in one room, instead eating in up to four different rooms in the house.

* One in five children eat dinner alone in their bedroom.

* 61% of families are too busy to sit down and eat a meal together.

* If they do eat together, 59% admitted they prefer to send text messages, watch television or go on the internet than talk with the rest of the family.

I find this so scary! Anecdotal evidence says that lots of teens feel that they can't talk to their parents, some self-harm and many say that they have considered suicide (how seriously, who knows?) It seems that our eating habits are only adding to the problem.

We get plenty wrong as parents but I am glad that we always eat together at least daily. It's a time to talk and catch up and sometimes to laugh, cry or argue. But we do it together.

Fat Tuesday

Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday today, known as Fat Tuesday in some parts of the world. (My favourite parishioner tells me that Mardis Gras literally means 'Greasy Tuesday'.) So I celebrated in style with doughnuts, cakes, and a roast dinner today. I met up with some ministry mates for the day and the agenda was have coffee and eat, read and pray, eat, walk in the New Forest, drink tea, pray, eat. And then leave with more food. It was the first time we had met up and I hope it becomes regular - lonely old business sometimes.

After all that excess, what to give up for Lent? Alcohol? Unlikely.

I don't usually do anything extra for Lent but this year I have decided to listen to a sermon every day. Might seem like a penance to you, what could be duller? But there are some great bible teachers out there on the interweb and I am a better person when I am taking in God's word. I very much enjoy listening to things done well. So watch this space. Day 1 tomorrow.

The smell of grace

We have been doing a short series on "Meals with Jesus" and today did the third of them, the breakfast that Jesus shared with his disciples in John 21. This has to be one of my favourite chapters in the Bible. After John 18 Peter has crashed and burnt and we were speculating this morning where Peter, or any of the rest of us, would be if John finished his gospel at verse 14.

But Peter, who denied Jesus three times, is forgiven as the breakfast makes clear. Jesus invites him for a meal of fish and bread and the end result is that Peter is not only forgiven but given gospel work to do. Astonishing! There is hope for all of us.

To underline the lesson I cooked fish during the sermon. Some hate the smell, some love it. But it's the smell of grace. Delicious!

Books of 2011, so far

I'm away for a few days with the family to wander around Brixham and read some more. I love to read on holiday. I've done okay on the book front so far this year though and neglected to blog accordingly.

So far it's been:

One Day - David Nicholls 9/10
Winner of the Galaxy chocolate book of 2010 or something but don't be put off by it's popularity to a mass market, it's great. Two students get together on the night of their graduation and the book devotes a chapter to each subsequent anniversary of that date. An easy read but Jonathan Coe likes it too, so it must be intelligent as well.

Last Night In Twisted River - John Irving 9/10
I'm a sucker for Irving, Owen Meaney being an all-time fave. This is him doing what he does so well, again. Echoes of Owen Meaney too in the bizarre death of a mother-figure. The rest of the novel deals with the consequences of a father and son as they go into hiding over it. And, of course, there are bears and wrestlers and writers in this book too.

The Fry Chronicles - Stephen Fry 5/10
Bit disappointed in this. After a while his constant apologising for his background and being miserable about himself get a bit wearing. And I suspect that the interesting stuff about his manic depression is missing - unless it started after this period in his life. Went to two lectures at Cambridge all the time he was there apparently. No wonder he missed out on his first. Ending rather infuriating, mentions a cocaine habit and then tells us we have to wait until the next book for that story.

Preachers, Keep Yourself From Idols - Derek Tidball 6/10
And now for something completely different. This is a month old, from IVP. Thought it would be good to read about the traps preachers can fall into and one or two of the chapters were rather fine. Overall not so great though.

It's Only A Movie - Mark Kermode 4/10
Another autobiography - of sorts. I guess it was a bit specialised for my tastes in terms of some of the films he obsesses over. Some unpleasant stuff on censorship and what is okay to watch - we'd disagree on some of those things but I've never been into horror at all. Don't really get on with his writing style either, all a bit too overblown for me.

As these have been read in the order they appear here, you can see that I need to up my game!

PS - John Irving's book had a fascinating note at the end on how he writes his books. He cannot start to write, he says, until he knows the last sentence. And that last sentence doesn't change in the rest of the process.

From the last sentence he works out a plan to find out how the story comes to that end point. He maps it out to work out a beginning and the characters and where everthing fits. This takes him 12-18 months. Only then does he sit down and write the thing. It took him three years to write "Last Night on Twisted River" once he had his road map in place - which he says is fast for him. Having the germ of the story in his head for twenty years helped him write 'so fast'.

For this reason and for so many others, I will never write a novel!

Changing Rooms

To see in the New Year, last week in church we looked at the new wardrobe that Christians are given to wear. It's out with the old and the way we used to live and in with the new, the way that we are supposed to live. In Paul's letter to the Colossian church (chapter 3) he describes it in clothing terms.

This is what we used to wear...

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.[b] 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

This is the new outfit...

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Hardly rocket science, is it? To put it another way, we can't sing 'Jesus is Lord', or 'Jesus is King' and just live however we feel like living, can we?

The trick is to remember the new outfit - the uniform that we are expected to be wearing, if you like. And not to go rooting through the bin-bags for the old stuff again.

This is the introduction to the series we are starting on "Respectable Sins" based on / nicked from Jerry Bridges' excellent book of the same name. Looking forward to getting into it again tomorrow.

Headship and Head Scarves - 1 Corinthians 11

Why did I think it was a good idea to preach through 1 Corinthians? That's what I was wondering as I set about 1 Cor 11:2-16 last week. Head hurt and lost sleep over such a varied set of interpretations, some of which I thought were pretty disgraceful.

V.3 and headship - what's that about then? There seem to be three options.

1 - to have authority over

2 - to represent

3 - to be the source of

The general idea seems to be that the language points to #3, though I have an inkling that #2 is helpful too. Not so convinced by #1 but some very intelligent people would disagree and I might be wrong. Feel a little like Alesha Dixon asked to judge Strictly, though to be fair she would be better qualified for her task than I feel for mine.

In the end does it matter much? If headship is about ruling over and having authority (which I don’t think it is) then what should it look like? How should a husband have authority over his wife? By loving her and being prepared to lay down his life for her, according to Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5:21 – “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ”.

I don't think you'd see a lot of difference between people who read head as meaning #1, #2, or #3 if they are seeking to be like Christ in all they do.

After that the hat issue was a doddle. We will still have the role of women to address in 1 Cor 14 but at least we can relax a bit in the meantime while we talk about the gifts of the Spirit!

The biggest encouragement of Sunday was where people disagreed (as a handful did). They were each so gracious and loving as we talked and it's what family should be like. We were able to discuss and even laugh about the subject and to do so with the security that this needn't and shouldn't change anything between us in terms of relationship.

That feels very precious indeed.

Grumbling

There's a great cartoon here of Moses standing before a parted Red Sea and turning to the Israelites saying, "What do you mean, 'It's a bit muddy?'"

http://www.cartoonsltd.co.uk/artists/artwork-by-bestie/9/114#

I used it in a sermon on 1 Cor 10 recently because it is so easy for us to be like that. We are a rescued people, freed from slavery by a loving God. And sometimes we grumble, "It's a bit muddy" when we should be rejoicing that we are on narrow way that leads to salvation.

End of sermon.

Giving Away Money - 4

We have gathered in most of the envelopes from "Burnham's Got Talents" and most of the results are in.

Drum roll...


We gave out eighty envelopes containing a tenner each and gave out the challenge to put those talents to work. Which means I was £800 down to begin with and silly as it might sound it felt like a big risk. And to be sure some of the envelopes haven't been returned and may never be. A quarter of the envelopes were returned with the ten pounds and nothing more - which I find quite amazing given that we spoke about the parable of the talents and the fate of the duff servant on the day it was given out. I got one note back telling me the point of the parable was to show that we could be trusted with small things in order to be entrusted with greater things - but simply returning the £10 too. Weird.


But, lots went for it as recorded previously in Giving Away Money -3. One man walked from Burnham-on-Sea to Bridgwater and another sponsored effort was a swim which the woman used to tell people why she was doing it and it gave her the chance to tell people about the church. There are some great stories amongst the feedback.

So we are currently in the position where - without having all the envelopes returned - we have turned £800 to just over £1500. I think it's more than likely that we will, like the good guys in the parable, double what we were entrusted with. Which is a fabulous effort. I'll post a final figure when we know it.

Careforce Conference

I am currently at a conference for young volunteers from all over the world who have just started service for a year or two in churches and projects across the UK. It is quite unlike any conference I have ever attended and it is hard to describe the vibrancy of the event. I have a list of our nationalities somewhere which I will post later but it is an amazing mix of people, white faces are a minority, and it is a privilege to spend time with such a loud and enthusiastic group. I am doing some Bible readings here and it is humbling to be speaking to these people and I rather suspect that I will gain more from the experience than any of them. Speaking to so many people of different cultures means I can't reference old 80's sitcoms in my talks. I am comforted (again) by the fact that God can speak through a donkey if he so chooses.

Here is the list: Uganda, Cameroon, Kenya, Ghana, Wales, Mexico, Slovakia, Namibia, Nigeria, Germany, Peru, Scotland, Colombia, Philippines, Canada, England, Pakistan, Japan, Northern Ireland, India, Gambia, and Tanzania.

Heaven will be like this.

Richard Baxter on Preaching

Found this quote today as I prepare on 2 Timothy 4 for a conference I am going to next week - and very much looking forward to. Be even more excited if I was anywhere near ready.

This doesn't fit what I am doing but rather than lose it:

"Whatever you do, let the people see that you are in good earnest... You cannot break men's hearts by jesting with them, or telling them a smooth tale, or patching up a gaudy oration. Men will not cast away their dearest pleasures upon a drowsy request of one that seemeth not to mean as he speaks, or to care much whether his request be granted."
The Reformed Pastor, 1656. Quoted in Stott (BST), p.107.

Wow

Yesterday was a real roller coaster of a Sunday. On the programme it seemed a straightforward Harvest Sunday. It seems God had other ideas.

In the morning we continued our series on The Hope of Heaven looking at Revelation 21 and the picture that it paints of heaven. It includes the famous verses about being a place of no tears, no suffering, no death, no more pain.

Afterwards I talk to a visitor to our church, one who I think I recognise but I'm not sure. Turns out he was visiting us and he had been with us last May. He reminds me that he was with his wife who was returning to fitness after a liver transplant. To cut a long story short his wife passed away a few days after they visited us in May and then two months later he lost his father too. He talked about how it felt that I was speaking just to him as I spoke from Rev 21. Of course it was not me, only God can do this. It reminded me what a privilege it is to hear God through the words of the Bible and to be used to help people hear that.

Rev 21 also points out in the last verse that nothing impure can enter heaven. Which is only bad news if you have ever done, said or thought anything bad! So we talked about Jesus - as the only truly pure person - had paid the price for our impurity and how you can have your name in the book of life. I talked about how it's not enough to know this stuff, you have to make a personal commitment. And I did something I rarely ever do. I asked people to consider their response to the invitation that God makes, close their eyes and raise a hand if they wanted to make that commitment.

I felt that I was a bit unclear as I hadn't really scripted it but I lead a prayer and five hands went up. Two are people who have started coming to the church having come to our Holiday Club for over 60s (pre-blog!). They are down to start the Christianity Explored course tomorrow and are as thrilled as we are. One was a lady in her 80s who has been in church all her life but says that while she understood the gospel message she had never responded to it in a personal way before. Hers is a long story but, again, it's exciting that she took this step. The fourth hand belonged to the visitor mentioned above who, having been through such a tough time, wanted to respond to what God was saying to him in the service. And the fifth was a man in his nineties who misunderstood what I was saying. Told you I was unclear.

But, me of little faith, I was taken aback. It is exciting to see what God is doing and we pray that these are the first fruits. Seems he did some harvesting this morning.

Afternoon spent visiting someone in hospital in Taunton, on to Evening Service which I led and preached in and then I went to visit a man who is on the edge of death. I was pleased to go to see him as I got there just before the nurses who came to administer his first dose of morphine, which was something the family were resisting unless it was absolutely necessary. I was able to hold his thin hand and pray for him. He hasn't long and the promises of Rev 21 are particularly pertinent at a time like this.

A long day. A good day. A long post but not everyday is like this and I wanted to process it as I typed. I am encouraged and hope you are too.

Listen Up!

A good friend sent me a copy of this excellent booklet published by the Good Book Company recently and I'd flag it up as a great resource to consider. It has 7 tips on how to engage better with a sermon when you are at the pew end - very simple and clear and full of good common sense advice. It also has a section at the end which includes advice on such things as 'How to listen to a dull sermon.'

10 of those have these at £20 for 20 of them and I have ordered a bunch for the congregation because the Word of God is the most important thing that they can take away with them from a Sunday service. Even when some idiot pastor is dishing out cash.

I'd quote some and give you more details but I've already passed on my copy. Have a look, I think it's worth it.

Giving Away Money - 1

Am I mad?

Just started a short series on The Hope of Heaven and start tomorrow with Matthew 25 where Jesus tells three parables in a row concerning his return and the judgement that will follow. Structure of the sermon is a doddle:

v.1-13 The Parable of the Ten Virgins - Are you ready for Christ’s return?

v.31-46 The Sheep and the Goats - When Jesus returns as shepherd will you be found to be a sheep or a goat?

v.14-30 The Parable of the Talents - In the light of Christ’s return, how are you using your talents?

Taken them out of order so that my illustration for v.14-30 doesn't completely drown out the first two sections.

Yesterday I went to the bank and drew out £800 in used tenners. The challenge is for whoever is in the congregation on Sunday to take a tenner and use it for the kingdom. The money is from a fund we have for giving aid to the poor and idea is that we increase "talents" as the servants did (v.20-23) and that it all goes back into the fund so that we can do all things we are supposed to do as true believers in v.35-36, feed the hungry, clothe the poor, look after the ill etc.

But it's not primarily about fund raising. It's about being accountable for what we are entrusted with. Jesus' parable tells us we will be acountable for what we have been given, how we use our talents. And of course that applies to our gifts, time and money. But Jesus does seem to be talking first and foremost about money here.

I am hoping this will be a lesson that lives with us and that we learn well because we have done something to reinforce the words that were preached. In four weeks time we will have our time of reckoning.

The night before the sermon I can't decide if what I am feeling is fear or excitment. I really have no idea how this will be received.

More on this tomorrow I suspect.