Depending on your church background you may or may not 'do Lent'. As someone who is part of a Baptist church, my experience is that Lent is a bit of a hit and miss, take it or leave it, season. Although I get the sense that it has gained in popularity in recent years as churches have seen it as an opportunity to engage with the Bible and their community, and the number of 'Lent courses' have multiplied. Part of this may be influenced by an increasing number of churches of different flavours working together - which is a very positive trend.
Last year as a family we signed up for 40 Acts - rather than a focus of giving something up for Lent, the focus was on actively making generous choices throughout Lent. Some of those were very little things - but as is often the case - small things can have a big impact on someone else.
So I'd encourage you to have a look at 40 Acts and see if this is something you could get involved in this year, starting on Wednesday 18 February.
Wednesday, 28 January 2015
Tuesday, 20 January 2015
Hang on for the ride
Every now and again I do click on those external links and videos that people are constantly posting on Facebook or Twitter. Here's one I came across the other day...
I have a bike - but it's not a mountain bike and I would certainly not attempt anything like this. Once this guy is on his bike it's clear that he's not your average cyclist and I doubt his bike cost about £150 from Halfords.
I wonder how many times this guy had to fall off in order to perfect some of these tricks? Obviously you don't go from riding along a residential street to riding backwards balanced on your front wheel or somersaulting over a barbed wire fence over night. You also don't learn that kind of stuff without falling off and hurting yourself a few times.
I haven't just posted this on here because I think it's a great video - although it is. But as I watched this through for the third or fourth time I got thinking about faith. God makes us some incredible promises, including the promise of the Holy Spirit. But when it comes to obeying the things that God has asked us to do, I wonder whether too often I settle for ... a quiet ride of my bike around the local park rather than learn to bunny hop. And then because I can't bunny hop God can't teach me to ... and because I never had the courage to learn how to ... God can't then teach me to ... And so I never make it out of the local park, I never make it to a mountain ridge across the Isle of Skye.
God invites us to trust him and hang on for the ride.
I have a bike - but it's not a mountain bike and I would certainly not attempt anything like this. Once this guy is on his bike it's clear that he's not your average cyclist and I doubt his bike cost about £150 from Halfords.
I wonder how many times this guy had to fall off in order to perfect some of these tricks? Obviously you don't go from riding along a residential street to riding backwards balanced on your front wheel or somersaulting over a barbed wire fence over night. You also don't learn that kind of stuff without falling off and hurting yourself a few times.
I haven't just posted this on here because I think it's a great video - although it is. But as I watched this through for the third or fourth time I got thinking about faith. God makes us some incredible promises, including the promise of the Holy Spirit. But when it comes to obeying the things that God has asked us to do, I wonder whether too often I settle for ... a quiet ride of my bike around the local park rather than learn to bunny hop. And then because I can't bunny hop God can't teach me to ... and because I never had the courage to learn how to ... God can't then teach me to ... And so I never make it out of the local park, I never make it to a mountain ridge across the Isle of Skye.
God invites us to trust him and hang on for the ride.
Friday, 16 January 2015
Facebook or Twitter
There was at some point a tweet or post that came across my desktop which ran something along the lines of 'Jesus uses Twitter because he wants followers not friends'. Of course Jesus does call us to 'follow me', but elsewhere in the gospels he calls his followers friends (e.g. John 15:14). So maybe Jesus would use both Twitter and Facebook - I guess Paul would certainly have used both (1 Cor. 9:22).
Last Sunday we started a new teaching series looking at discipleship in the gospels - starting with Jesus' call to follow me (Matthew 4:18-22). We've been looking recently on here at resolutions and so often our resolutions involve things that we do. In the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42) Mary models the behaviour of the true disciple - sitting at Jesus' feet, listening to him; whilst Martha is so busy serving that she misses the point.
And yet spending time with Jesus does require us to do something. Getting to know him better will not happen all by itself.
We know that reading the Bible and prayer are disciplines that will help us know Jesus better. Maybe that's why these are two of the commonest (if not the two most common) resolutions amongst Christians every January. But how do we ensure that our 'doing' does not get in the way of our 'being'? How do we approach a series on discipleship without slipping into the illusion that discipleship is about doing all of the following better or more...rather than about being about following a person, Jesus?
As I've been thinking about this over the past few weeks I have been reminded that even human relationships don't just happen - they take effort on our part. Think about the friend who moves away, and the promises to keep in touch etc. Sometimes we do, but sometimes we're lucky if we remember to send a Christmas card. It takes an effort to keep in touch, to make space to meet up and spend time together. I guess it comes down to a question of priority.
Marriage preparation courses deal with the effort that we will have to make in order to make a marriage work. That feeling of 'fuzzy round the edges love' alone is often not enough. It's not just about being - it's also about doing.
But what is the motive for our doing? That I guess is the key.
Last Sunday we started a new teaching series looking at discipleship in the gospels - starting with Jesus' call to follow me (Matthew 4:18-22). We've been looking recently on here at resolutions and so often our resolutions involve things that we do. In the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42) Mary models the behaviour of the true disciple - sitting at Jesus' feet, listening to him; whilst Martha is so busy serving that she misses the point.
And yet spending time with Jesus does require us to do something. Getting to know him better will not happen all by itself.
We know that reading the Bible and prayer are disciplines that will help us know Jesus better. Maybe that's why these are two of the commonest (if not the two most common) resolutions amongst Christians every January. But how do we ensure that our 'doing' does not get in the way of our 'being'? How do we approach a series on discipleship without slipping into the illusion that discipleship is about doing all of the following better or more...rather than about being about following a person, Jesus?
As I've been thinking about this over the past few weeks I have been reminded that even human relationships don't just happen - they take effort on our part. Think about the friend who moves away, and the promises to keep in touch etc. Sometimes we do, but sometimes we're lucky if we remember to send a Christmas card. It takes an effort to keep in touch, to make space to meet up and spend time together. I guess it comes down to a question of priority.
Marriage preparation courses deal with the effort that we will have to make in order to make a marriage work. That feeling of 'fuzzy round the edges love' alone is often not enough. It's not just about being - it's also about doing.
But what is the motive for our doing? That I guess is the key.
Wednesday, 7 January 2015
Setting ourselves up for failure - again
Over these next few days a large percentage of people who made New Year resolutions will abandon their good intentions and the changes in life style that they made just a few days ago.
When it comes to making resolutions that are to do with our relationship with God we should not be surprised that all of a sudden there are all kinds of distractions that get in the way. We are in a spiritual battle and Satan does not want to see us getting closer to God.
But are there other reasons why we struggle to stick to the choices we make which we know will be good for us?
Sometimes we make too many resolutions - there is too much change all in one go - we'd be better off making one or two resolutions rather than a whole list.
Sometimes our resolutions are too vague. Those of you who have followed this blog for a while will know that I run - or at least I ran. Over the last few months of 2014 my running dropped to nothing. Going from over 100 miles a month to 39 miles, to 8 miles, finally to 0 miles for December. So one of my resolutions for 2015 was to start running again. But that's quite a vague resolution - so to make it specific I set myself the goal of running 1000 miles in the year - which equates to just over 19 miles a week, which equates to about four 5 mile runs a week. So the initial resolution is to run 4 short runs a week, building up over a few weeks to 5 miles a time.
Sometimes our resolutions are too difficult. If you've never run, a resolution to run 1000 miles in 2015 might be a bit ambitious. When I started running again after a gap of six years I tried to run round a local park. This park was roughly square and the total distance round the path was about 0.7 miles. I didn't even manage one side of the square before I had to walk. So the plan was one lap, doing run-walk-run-walk. Every other day, doing more running and less walking. Eventually I could run a whole lap. But if you start off trying to do too much you either get discouraged and give up, or you get injured and have to stop. And so when we're thinking about our resolutions we need to be specific rather than vague, but we also need to be realistic.
One of the best pieces of advice to someone who wants to start running is to join a running club. Doing something with others is a lot easier than doing it on your own. On those wet, cold days when you really don't feel like getting your trainers on it's a lot harder to get out there and run (even though you know you'll feel great afterwards) if you're on your own. But if you've arranged to meet up with someone and you do it together you are much more likely to succeed. So having someone to support us and to encourage us and also to check up on us is a great help in succeeding at our resolutions.
In a couple of days we'll have a look at the sorts of resolutions it may be helpful to think about making.
When it comes to making resolutions that are to do with our relationship with God we should not be surprised that all of a sudden there are all kinds of distractions that get in the way. We are in a spiritual battle and Satan does not want to see us getting closer to God.
But are there other reasons why we struggle to stick to the choices we make which we know will be good for us?
Sometimes we make too many resolutions - there is too much change all in one go - we'd be better off making one or two resolutions rather than a whole list.
Sometimes our resolutions are too vague. Those of you who have followed this blog for a while will know that I run - or at least I ran. Over the last few months of 2014 my running dropped to nothing. Going from over 100 miles a month to 39 miles, to 8 miles, finally to 0 miles for December. So one of my resolutions for 2015 was to start running again. But that's quite a vague resolution - so to make it specific I set myself the goal of running 1000 miles in the year - which equates to just over 19 miles a week, which equates to about four 5 mile runs a week. So the initial resolution is to run 4 short runs a week, building up over a few weeks to 5 miles a time.
Sometimes our resolutions are too difficult. If you've never run, a resolution to run 1000 miles in 2015 might be a bit ambitious. When I started running again after a gap of six years I tried to run round a local park. This park was roughly square and the total distance round the path was about 0.7 miles. I didn't even manage one side of the square before I had to walk. So the plan was one lap, doing run-walk-run-walk. Every other day, doing more running and less walking. Eventually I could run a whole lap. But if you start off trying to do too much you either get discouraged and give up, or you get injured and have to stop. And so when we're thinking about our resolutions we need to be specific rather than vague, but we also need to be realistic.
One of the best pieces of advice to someone who wants to start running is to join a running club. Doing something with others is a lot easier than doing it on your own. On those wet, cold days when you really don't feel like getting your trainers on it's a lot harder to get out there and run (even though you know you'll feel great afterwards) if you're on your own. But if you've arranged to meet up with someone and you do it together you are much more likely to succeed. So having someone to support us and to encourage us and also to check up on us is a great help in succeeding at our resolutions.
In a couple of days we'll have a look at the sorts of resolutions it may be helpful to think about making.
Monday, 5 January 2015
New Year's Resolutions
We are now only 5 days away from the day when it is reckoned that three quarters of people who made New Year's resolutions will give up. These individuals, on average, are then likely to make, and fail, the same resolution for four consecutive years. So why do we do it?
What about as a Christian - how should I think about NYRs?
In his look at 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12, John Piper, helps us to see that, yes, we should make resolutions - and also addresses the issues that often crop up when we start trying to balance what we do, with God's grace; balancing our efforts, with God's power.
Come back in a couple of days when we'll have a look at what sorts of things we might want to resolve and the sorts of resolutions that are most likely to succeed.
What about as a Christian - how should I think about NYRs?
In his look at 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12, John Piper, helps us to see that, yes, we should make resolutions - and also addresses the issues that often crop up when we start trying to balance what we do, with God's grace; balancing our efforts, with God's power.
Come back in a couple of days when we'll have a look at what sorts of things we might want to resolve and the sorts of resolutions that are most likely to succeed.
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