'Literally' has to be one of the most overused words in the English language - it should be one of those words that you literally never see or hear. But earlier on today my youngest daughter, who is six, took something I said literally - which is what children do of course - because they haven't learnt the complexities of language yet. Many of you will know that as a family we're following 40Acts throughout Lent. As well as the daily challenges for the adults there is a wall chart for children with their daily challenge too. Today's children's challenge was 'say something nice about someone behind their back'.
A few minutes later my daughter crept up behind me and whispered, 'I love you'. Needless to say that made my day.
Today is the beginning of Fairtrade Fortnight. Fairtrade has continued to grow and grow over the twenty years it has been raising awareness. It's not just about tea, coffee and chocolate - it's about footballs, clothes, wine, flowers and so much more. Many of us have already made the switch to Fairtrade items - this fortnight is an opportunity to celebrate the impact of Fairtrade on many communities across the globe, and to encourage us to have a think about how and where we spend our money.
For those of you who are following the 40 Acts Lent programme you will know that today's focus is on Fairtrade - making the switch and raising awareness. If you want to know more then check out the Fairtrade Foundation website here. If you want to see what else I've written about Fairtrade in the past, then use the dates on the right of the screen and check posts for this time each year.
This week the Evangelical Alliance released results from its research into the views of evangelical Christians ahead of May's General Election. What issues are important? Will you be voting for the same party as last time? (Read the detail here). Also this week the Church of England has attracted attention for writing a letter in which it encouraged all of its members to take part and vote in the forthcoming General Election. This has received a range of responses - from those supporting all involvement in the election process to those criticising the Bishops for their apparent left wing stance. (Read the full 52 page letter here). (Read the BBC's report here). There have, no doubt, been those whose view is that the church should stick to doing what the church does and stay out of politics. Such a view is nothing new, and goes hand in hand with those who think that 'faith' is something that is fine for the individual but should be practised at home, behind closed doors. It is a private matter - and has no place in the public sphere. But such thinking displays a total misunderstanding in the way that genuine faith works. True faith is not something that you can switch on and switch off. It is not, for example, something that you do in church, but outside of church you do something different. Of course, that describes how many people treat church, but it cannot be made to fit genuine faith. What we believe affects the way that we behave - in every area of life. When there is a difference between our Sunday faith and our Monday-Saturday behaviour we should probably ask whether our Monday-Saturday actions demonstrate what we truly believe and Sunday is just a routine that we go through. So what is the role of the church in the forthcoming election? Is it to tell people how to vote? Should I start wearing red, blue, purple or green on Sunday mornings to send subliminal messages to my congregation? Or is the role of the church to equip people with the confidence to read the Bible and prayerfully come to their own conclusions as to how they should vote? As a Christian what should I think about...or...or...? What are the issues that God has created me to be passionate about? And therefore, I'm going to vote for ... Of course there will be a variety of answers to that last statement. And that is the way it should be. We each have a little under three months to prayerfully reach a conclusion, so that on May 7, we vote, and our decision is based upon our understanding of God and his world.
This Sunday in our series on discipleship we took a look at part of the Sermon in the Mount - Matthew 5:21-48. The bit where Jesus says things like 'you have heard it said, do not commit murder, but I tell you if you're angry with your brother or sister you will be judged'. Challenging stuff.
And some parts of the Bible are very challenging to read because they highlight an obvious gap between the life we'd like to lead and the life we're actually leading. A gap between what is seen on the outside and what is going on inside. But how do you feel and how do you respond after you've read a challenging passage? Paul tells us in the New Testament that for the Christian there is no condemnation - because of Jesus. He died to bring forgiveness and peace. But he also tells us that God's word will rebuke us at times, because we will read it and realise that there are areas of our life that do not match up with what God wants. But the Holy Spirit does not reveal these things with the purpose of making us feel rubbish about ourselves and want to give up following Jesus. Rather he wants us to repent of our mistakes and take a fresh start. I remember someone telling me once that our walk as a follower of Jesus is a bit like someone building a circular tower of bricks. Where each brick represents an area in our lives that God is transforming, and God is the builder. So maybe at the moment God is putting his finger on anger - and once that issue got a bit sorted he moves on to our attitude towards money, and then lust, and then telling the truth and then...and then...and then... Eventually the first layer of bricks is laid, and God returns to anger - either we need to relearn the previous lesson or God wants to take us on a step further, and then money, and then ... and then ... and then... until the second layer is complete. And so we keep on going round and round and round, but each time the tower gets a little higher. This picture is helpful in a number of ways.
It reminds us that God often works on us one piece at a time - so what is God working on in me at the moment?
Also just because I see certain sins in others doesn't mean that God is working on those sins at the moment - I need to allow God to work in his time and in his way.
God's word does challenge us about our behaviour - but not with the purpose of paralysing us, but to allow God transform us a bit more and therefore lay another brick.
Sometimes it feels as if we're just going round and round in circles, but we're also getting a little higher each time.
