Which story are you listening to?

Stories are important. We all have a story. We are all part of a story, whether we realise it or not. How we understand that story will shape our lives, the way we view ourselves and others, and the choices we make.

$44 billion is a lot of money. Various reasons have been put forward as to why Elon Musk would spend $44 billion to become the owner of social media platform Twitter. One suggestion is so that he can ‘control the narrative’.

The struggle for ‘control of the narrative’ is something that we discover on the first pages of the Bible story. A talking snake asks the question, ‘Did God really say…?’ Embracing an alternative narrative led Adam and Eve to make choices and decisions that changed the course of history.

Stories are important. The Bible is primarily a story – a narrative. It’s a story where I learn about a God who loves me – and who invites me to be a part of this story. It’s a story with a beginning and an ending – even if the story starts before the beginning and goes on beyond the ending! It’s a story that we can’t get our heads round. And seeing myself as a part of this story will shape my life, the way I view myself and others, and the choices I make.

I use Twitter daily. I follow nearly 300 people/organisations – mostly people I agree with, but not exclusively. I mainly use Twitter to flag up news, stories and resources that I would otherwise miss because it’s impossible to keep across everything that is going on. 

I rarely get involved in commenting on anything on Twitter – because, from that point of view, it is really one of the most horrible places on the internet. There is no room for nuance, and little room for grace or sympathy. Even when someone posts something that is clearly meant for good it can be ripped to shreds and criticised within minutes. I doubt anyone has had their point of view changed by a debate on Twitter.

I expect we have all heard the allegations that foreign powers have been able to use social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, to influence elections and referendums – to shape the way that people think. I probably don’t need to use the word ‘alleged’ to suggest that the wider media, including newspapers and television, influence the results of elections and referendums. Their choice of stories, the language they use, the pictures they choose – this all goes a long way in influencing the way that we think.

But as a Christian I already have a narrative, a story, that helps me to understand and interpret the world in which I live. I already have a narrative that helps me to know how I should treat those who are worse off than me. I already have a narrative that helps me know how I should think about people who look different or sound different to me. I already have a narrative that helps me to know how I should respond to those who use their power and wealth for their own self interests. I already have a narrative that tells me that values such as love and humility and truth and justice are more important than possessions and status and the size of my bank balance.

We live in a world where someone is always trying to gain control of the narrative. To reshape the story. To ask the question, ‘did God really say…?’ We need to ensure that the narrative that is shaping our lives is God’s story.

My attitude to money - Reflection 08

Here is my weekly reflection from last week. If you would like to have these reflections emailed directly to your inbox on a Wednesday just let me know.

At about 11.05am on Sunday morning I settled down with a coffee at a Greggs – somewhere beside the A303 – somewhere between Devon and Cambridgeshire. I clicked the link to the live stream hoping to catch a few minutes of the service. Clearly there were a number of significant technical issues on Sunday morning, and I want to thank our current team, particularly Debbie and Anne, who do such a great job – not only presenting the slides in the room but also making sure that the live stream goes out. Their job has got significantly more challenging since July. Like so many things in life, it goes unnoticed until it goes wrong. But each time something unexpected happens we learn a little more! If you would like to be a part of this team then please do get in touch – training will be provided. Also, thank you so much to Mandy who re-recorded her sermon for us on Monday, as we used to do back in the days of pre-recorded services. This is now available on YouTube if you haven’t seen it already. You’ll find it here. As we have seen already in this series, Jesus is interested in our attitudes, our motives, our desires. And this week the focus was very much on our attitude to money. How much is my happiness, my contentment, my peace, my security wrapped up in what I have. Would I feel any less secure about the future if I didn’t own my own home or have a good pension? Would I feel more secure about the future if I did own my own home or had a good pension? Where does my security actually lie? Mandy quoted from Psalm 62:10b, ‘though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them’ and asked a question about our response to a promotion, a pay rise, an unexpected gift. Do we celebrate that our standard of living can increase? Or do we celebrate that we have more to give?  I was reminded of the story of John Wesley whose attitude towards money can be summed up as ‘Gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can’. Whilst working in Oxford (in the 1700s) Wesley earned about £30 a year. His living expenses were £28 and he gave away £2. When his earnings increased to £60 he continued to live off £28 and gave away £32. Wesley continued this practise throughout the course of his life. Eventually his income was to increase to about £1,400 a year – he lived off £30 and gave the rest away. He apparently became well known for his saying, ‘What should rise is not the Christian’s standard of living but their standard of giving’! A challenging testimony. We have heard a lot recently about the cost-of-living crisis and the dramatic rise in energy bills. People forced to make the choice between eating and heating. The continued rise in the use of foodbanks. I was struck by Mandy’s challenge at the end of her sermon which started something like, ‘no matter how difficult it may get…’, and referencing the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego moments before they were thrown into the fiery furnace. Am I going to trust God? Am I going to put my faith in God? Am I going to remain kingdom focused? No matter how difficult it may get?

Doing something for Lent?

Over the years I've posted and re-posted a number of posts on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday with a few thoughts on Lent. 

I come from a church tradition where Lent is not a thing. 

I'm now part of church tradition where Lent is still not officially a thing - but the church family is made up of people from all kinds of backgrounds who draw on all kinds of resources and influences. The idea of pausing and reflecting and preparing for the season of Easter seems like a good idea. It's certainly not a bad idea.

It's always good to have those points in the year where we stop and reflect. An opportunity to maybe reflect on what we're doing or not doing. What direction we're headed in. What our priorities are. An opportunity for a fresh start or a time of recommitment. And if nothing else, Lent provides us with one of those points in the year.

I mentioned on Sunday that I would flag up some resources for anyone who is wanting to do something a bit different from their normal pattern of spiritual disciplines over the next few weeks. So, here are a few ideas.

Lectio 365 from 24-7 Prayer

I know that many of you make use of the Lectio365 app. The app uses the model of PRAY - Pausing, Rejoicing and Reflecting, Asking and Yielding - each day to help us encounter God.
They will be starting their Lent series of readings, reflections and prayers tomorrow. If you've not used the app before you can find out more here - or head to the place where you normally get your apps and look for Lectio 365. They also have an app Lection 365 for Familes when is especially designed for ... families. Both these resources are from the 24-7 Prayer team.

The Lent Encounter from The Bible Society

Those of you who enjoyed Andrew Ollerton's 'The Bible Course' might be interested to take a look at 'The Lent Encounter' by the Bible Society. It promises:

• Andrew Ollerton takes us on a tour of the Holy Land with videos of places from some of the most significant points of Jesus' life. 
• Bible Society staff share personal reflections on themes such as love, rejection, hope and peace. 
• Prayers and conversation starters for you to reflect on and share with others.
• Weekly ‘Wonder Walks’ with a guide to explore God’s word and meditate as you walk.
• Go deeper in to God's word and consider some big life questions along the way

You can sign up at the link above.

Lent Devotional from Tearfund

Again, if daily emails are your thing then Tearfund provide a Lent devotional that promises bite-sized daily reflections, prayers and poems to help you draw nearer to God as we approach Easter.

If none of those ideas grabs you - there's plenty more out there.

Why do I do what I do? - Reflection 07

I'm a few weeks behind posting my weekly reflections - if you'd like to get these by email every Wednesday then please get in touch and let me have your email address.

According to Shakespeare, “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”  If Shakespeare had been writing in the Greek of the New Testament the final word in this sentence would have been ‘hypocrite’. Our word hypocrite comes directly from the Greek word for an actor. So when Jesus tells his disciples not to be like the hypocrites he is telling them to make sure that they’re not living some kind of lie – where the inside and the outside of their lives don’t match up. On Sunday we were looking at Jesus’ teaching on giving to the needy, prayer and fasting from Matthew 6:1-18. If you’ve not listened yet then you’ll find it here. Jesus’ assumption was that giving to the needy, prayer and fasting were all things that his disciples would do. His disciples were Jewish, his audience was Jewish and these were all aspects of Jewish life. And so Jesus is not trying to convince his disciples that if they want to become more like him they need to start caring for those in need, spending time in prayer and fasting.  His assumption was that they would be doing these things. But he wanted them to make sure that their motives were right. That they were wanting to do these things out of their love for God and their desire to be more like Jesus. The hypocrites on the other hand were doing these things to be seen by others and to win their applause.  Within our culture there is a very high probability that people will need to be taught biblical principles for giving, praying and fasting – and we’re going to be looking at these topics again next week, and on the 13th and 6th March respectively. But our motives for why we do what we do can be very complex. On Sunday I used the example of running. I’ve not run for several months because of a niggling injury that won’t go away – but when I was running there was never just one motive that got me out of the door. Sometimes if it was a really nice day I might just decide to go for a run because it is something that I enjoy. I enjoy the freedom, the countryside and I know that when I get back I will feel better than when I left. But if it’s dark, and I can hear the rain on the window, and the wind is blowing, then getting out of a comfy, warm bed sometimes just didn’t happen. Things that would help in that situation would be the knowledge that I was training for a specific event that people knew about. Or being involved in some online competition or challenge that meant I needed to log a run that morning. When it comes to our spiritual life I expect it is as equally challenging to try and untangle our motives for why we do what we do. Whilst we might agree that love for God, love for others and a desire to follow Jesus are the right motives for what we do there’s probably a lot more in the mix. Whilst we agree that it is only God’s opinion that matters I’m sure we are all effected by what others think and say. Doing my Bible reading because I’ve committed to reading the Bible in a year and I need to tick the box isn’t a right motive for reading the Bible – but reading the Bible is preferable to not reading the Bible. At least I am putting myself in a place where God can talk to me. I could go on – but I won’t. Keeping the commandments outwardly is one thing. Making sure our heart is right at the same time is something else altogether. Something that is only possible with the work of the Holy Spirit. Thankfully God is gracious and merciful and forgiving. And patient. Our loving heavenly Father. Within that context let’s examine our hearts to see why we do what we do. And invite the Holy Spirit to challenge and change us where necessary.

Breaking down cultural barriers - Reflection 6

At our 4pm service on Sunday we explored the theme of ‘Breaking down Barriers’. If you’ve not yet had a chance to listen to Keith’s talk you’ll find it here.

Between finishing teaching and starting as a full-time Baptist minister I spent four years at college. The first two years were full-time at All Nations Christian College and the second two were as a student minister. I was a student minister at a church in north London and then spent a couple of days a week at Spurgeon’s College in south London. 

 

When I went to All Nations, I was planning on returning to teaching overseas. I hadn’t got as far as thinking as who that would be with – but BMS World Mission was a serious contender. All Nations specialise in cross-cultural training. Training missionaries is what they do. The course I took was in ‘Biblical and cross-cultural studies’.

There is a saying that goes something like, ‘a goldfish isn’t aware that it’s surrounded by water until it’s taken out of its tank’. And culture is a bit like that. Generally speaking we’re unaware of it until we’re taken out of it and put in a different culture. We’re unaware of how much of our lives are shaped by our culture – and how other people might think and behave very differently.

 

One of the great things about the courses at All Nations is that they didn’t necessarily give many answers – but they taught you to ask the right sort of questions.

 

The apostle Paul understood culture. He straddled the Jewish and the Roman worlds. He travelled extensively. His strategy as a missionary was to adapt his methods of sharing the gospel depending on his audience (1 Corinthians 9:19-23). He didn’t compromise the message – but he wanted to remove unnecessary barriers. That’s why he used his Jewish name, Saul, when talking with Jews and his Roman name, Paul, when talking with Romans. 

We talked on Sunday about ethnic differences as well as generational and class differences. And there will be other differences that will be relevant for our context. My original presentation was black writing on a yellow background – but after a visit to the Sight Loss Friendly Church website I changed it to yellow writing on black background. Just one less thing to get in the way of someone responding to the gospel.

 

How much of what we do as a church is cultural? And how much of that is a barrier to the community we are trying to reach?

What should Christians watch? - Reflection 04

This week we continued our series from the Sermon on the Mount – looking at Jesus’ teaching on adultery, divorce and telling the truth. If you’ve not yet had a chance to listen then you’ll find Keith’s talk here.

I know that some people get a little bit nervous when they hear me say, ‘never do something just because it’s written in the Bible’ – and I understand where they’re coming from. The most obvious concern is over the danger that we can then make the Bible say whatever we want it to say. How do we make sure that what we think the Bible is saying, is actually what the Bible is saying.

But on the flip side – our life is very different to life in the first century – or even earlier. And there is so much of our modern life that the Bible simply does not mention. And so if you restrict yourself to only doing what you read in the Bible you are going to struggle with all sorts of questions and issues that face us today.

One of the things that comes through Matthew 5-7 is that Jesus is calling his disciples to live a life that is radically different. It was a life that was different to their fellow Jews and inconceivable to their Roman and Greek neighbours.

And so whatever this life that Jesus calls us to looks like – the chances are, it’s going to be very different to the lives of those around us – both in terms of what we do and what we think.

And what we think is really important to Jesus. That is clear from these verses. What we think is at least as important, if not more important, than our outward actions. In the section about adultery (verses 27-30) Jesus uses hyperbole and exaggeration to show the sort of lengths we should go to in order to protect what we allow into our minds. (Just to be clear – Jesus is not speaking literally in verses 29 and 30). It’s not just a case of shutting the wrong thoughts down once they are there – it’s also about putting things in place to make sure that those thoughts don’t get there in the first place.

On Sunday I mentioned that for me, one of the choices that I make, is generally speaking, not watching films that are rated above a 12. There is a huge range of content on the internet now. It used to be that if you wanted to watch a film it required a trip to Block Buster and you had to walk out with an actual video cassette. Now, within the privacy of your own bedroom, you can watch almost anything within a couple of mouse clicks. And so setting the filter at 12 helps reduce the temptation of watching something that will be unhelpful in my walk with Jesus.

And each of us will need to make our own decisions – in terms of what helps and what hinders our relationship with Jesus. We need to recognise that some of these decisions may be inconvenient, costly and painful. But are they as inconvenient, costly or painful as the (non-literal) measures mentioned by Jesus? And that’s part of the point. We don’t just need to make choices that are convenient and which fit in with our current lives – but sometimes we need to be prepared to make decisions that will be life-changing and costly. 

Jesus doesn’t mince his words. And there’s no nice way of saying it. But the risk of making consistent choices that pull us away from Jesus is that that’s where we might find ourselves for eternity – away from Jesus.

Reflection 03 - The one about reconciliation

On Sunday we moved into the next section on the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus states that he has not come to abolish the law but to fulfil it. David Newton, from St. Mary’s, unpacked those thoughts very helpfully for us. If you’ve not yet had a chance to watch or listen you’ll find the video here and the podcast here. 

And then Jesus begins a section where he repeatedly says, ‘you’ve heard it said that … but I tell you …’ (in verses 21, 27, 32, 33,38, 43).

The first of these is to do with murder and anger. Jesus warns us about the dangers of anger and harsh words. He then goes on to a very practical application. A situation where a person is bringing an offering before God. In that process – may be because of a prayer of confession that is being offered – the person remembers a broken relationship. Jesus tells his disciples to stop what they’re doing and go and put things right before returning to the altar and offering the gift to God. This broken relationship is with a brother or sister – not in terms of a blood relative, but in terms of another follower of Jesus.

My Greek is not sufficiently good to know whether the phrase, ‘has something against you’ is specifically talking about a situation where you have wronged someone – so they have something against you. Certainly, for those situations where we are at fault, we have even more responsibility to put things right.

These verses highlight just how important it is to put things right as quickly as possible and how high on God’s list of priorities doing that is.

Few of us like confrontation and many of us will avoid it if we can. I wonder how many of us have unresolved disagreements, hurts or offenses lurking in the background? And rather than deal with it we’ve allowed it to spoil the relationship. You’ll know if you have because God will have just brought that person or situation to mind!

Have a think about the church family at CBC. Is there anyone that you would choose not to sit next to? Is there anyone who, if they invited you out for a coffee, you’d find a reason to say ‘no’? Is there someone you’d not invite to your home for a meal?

Obviously, there are situations where those things would not be appropriate or where strict boundaries need to be in place for our own protection. But hopefully you get the idea I’m driving at.

If God has brought a situation to mind where you need to put things right, then a practical application of these verses is to do that before Sunday. 

Clearly, there are two sides in any relationship and you only have control over one half. You have no idea how the other person is going to respond. They may have no idea that they have offended you in the past. They may have forgotten all about the issue a long time ago. They may still be very bitter and not prepared to move on.

It is quite likely that re-visiting past hurt is going to be painful, and the process of reconciliation is not going to be quick or easy. But fractured relationships within the church family damage our relationship with God and our relationship with each other. That’s why it is so important to stop what you’re doing and go and be reconciled to that person.

Reflection 02 - the one about standing out in a crowd

 

On Sunday Graham introduced our spring teaching series – Living Jesus’ Way. We’re going to be listening in as Jesus teaches his disciples (and the crowd) in Matthew 5-7. We often refer to this section as ‘The Sermon on the Mount’. If you’ve not listened to Graham yet, I would encourage you to do so – you’ll find it here: https://youtu.be/Ngico_9WOMM

Our logo/graphic for this series is a little orange fish swimming the opposite way to a school of white fish. Living Jesus’ Way will often mean that we will think and therefore behave differently to those around us. 

 

Just look again about the list of ‘blessed are the …’ that Graham talked us through on Sunday (Matthew 5:3-12). Very few, if any, of these values and characteristics would make it on to most people’s list of ‘blessings’. And quite a few of these values and characteristics are looked down on and despised – think about humility, meekness, mercy and purity for example.

Some of these values and characteristics are out of our control. Mourning and persecution, for example, are to some extent out of our hands, even if they are to be expected. But how do we respond when they are our experience? 

 

Being different and standing out from the crowd is really tough. We live in an age where diversity and difference is celebrated and yet it is done so within a broader context of conformity. Tolerance often appears to be a value that trumps all others – as long as that means believing everyone is right.

Swimming against the tide is exhausting. It’s much easier to roll over, float on your back and go with the flow. How are you making sure that you’re strengthened, encouraged, refreshed and patched up ready to go again each week?

Our vision talks about being disciples – and part of what church is, is coming together, to meet with others, and to be renewed and equipped to go again because it’s tough being an orange fish.

Adzuki beans have a low carbon footprint

Back at the beginning of December, I talked about an app - Impact Score Shopping - that I have started to use in my attempt to become more informed about the environmental impact of the things that I eat. You can read that blog here.

One of our successes, in terms of eating a lot less meat, has been a meat-free chilli which our three girls didn't actually realise was meat-free until I told them after the meal. We haven't had a lot of joy with meat lookalikes in the past. Two of our children don't like soya alternatives and the other is allergic to Quorn. (Google it - it's a thing - and is to do with the protein derived from a fungus). 

We have tried Plant Chef burgers - and everyone will eat them - but they're not a low carbon footprint product. Obviously, they're healthier than meat burgers and suitable for vegans - but in terms of the environmental impact they're not as good as they could be.

Back to the chilli. The only difference to a meat chilli was substituting Adzuki beans for the mince.

If you've never had adzuki beans before they're very similar to kidney beans but a lot smaller - and as it turns out, if you are an unobservant teenager they're not dissimilar to mince when cooked in a chilli!

I first came across adzuki beans as a substitution for kidney beans in our weekly supermarket delivery. When asked if I was happy to accept the substitution I had no idea what they were, having never heard of them before - nor had the delivery driver.

Adzuki beans are a low carbon footprint product as are kidney beans and tinned tomatoes. They should get 4 out of 6 badges as the tin is recyclable. 

I use a Colman's chilli mix which now comes in a fully recyclable packet - but it may well be better to use chilli powder, a stock cube, garlic and something like cumin - something to look at later.

Fry the onion and then add everything else (400g adzuki beans, 400g kidney beans, 400g tinned chopped tomatoes, packet mix made up with 150ml of cold water) and allow to simmer for about 15 mins.

Serve with rice and top with grated cheese. The only good thing about the cheese is that it is UK made.

Because calculating carbon emissions for individual products is so complicated it is impossible to put an actual figure in terms of kgCO2 as to how much better this recipe is than the meat version. But it is a step in the right direction. It would be even better without cheese.

2022 - Reflection 01 - the one where it's important to get the right balance

Happy New Year.

 

On Sunday we were thinking about how we can be prepared to grow in 2022 – not simply to survive another year of uncertainty, but to grow and see lives transformed. If you’ve not had a chance to listen yet you’ll find it here: https://youtu.be/ZOuOj1qbEWY

I find this a challenging topic to talk about because it can be hard to get the right balance. It’s right that we think about our faith in terms of a relationship with Jesus. That’s why we started with Hebrews 12:1-2 – the importance of fixing our eyes on Jesus. We’re called to follow Jesus. That’s why we use the language of walking in our Vision. It’s also right that we talk about ‘being’ and not only about ‘doing’. Afterall the gospels are littered with people who on the outside did all the right things but didn’t have the heart attitude to match.

 

And so it’s not about finding the things that you need to do in order to grow in your faith. It’s about catching a fresh glimpse of how much God loves us and what Jesus has done for us on the cross and wanting to respond to that love. But how we respond is important.

 

It’s about recognising that when it comes to people who grew in their faith – there are common things that they did which helped them on that journey. It’s about not seeing these as things that I need to do in order to become more like Jesus, but that as I become more like Jesus these are things that I am going to increasingly do.

Another way of thinking about these things is that they are a bit like scaffolding. They are not the tower that is being built but they will help you as you build. They provide a framework for what is being built.

 

It’s also important to remember that healthy human relationships don’t just happen. Even healthy marriages don’t just happen. They take work and effort. When a relationship is new, spending time together is not really an issue – you put considerable effort into being together. But after some time you might find that you have to deliberately and intentionally make sure that certain things happen. 

If you want to go out for a meal with your partner you have to plan weeks ahead, arrange childcare, put it in the diary, write it on the calendar. You will discover that there will be times when you don’t want to put the bins out but you choose to do it because of love. You recognise that you need to put boundaries in place to protect your relationship. 

 

And so it is with our relationship with Jesus – it won’t just happen. Especially when you consider that we are in a spiritual battle and we have an enemy who wants to do everything in his power to derail our attempts to spend time with Jesus. Whether that be a distracting thought the moment we sit down to pray, or pointing out that we’ve already failed in our New Year resolution to read the Bible every day and it’s only the 5^th January so what’s the point…

Or else our enemy goes the other way and we get so absorbed in the box-ticking of our Bible in a Year reading plan that all the joy and time for devotion is sucked out of the experience. We churn through the chapters with no time to speak or listen to God. We read God’s word but we don’t allow it to change us.

 

Whatever it is that you need to put in place to grow closer to Jesus can I encourage you to do it today. Start small if you need to. Be encouraged by the thought that Jesus wants to spend time with you. Like the father in the story of the prodigal son he is on the lookout for the first signs that we are making a bit of space, and a bit of time to sit with him.