Why bother praying?

Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed

Our Core Values: Loving, Welcoming, Missional, Servant-hearted, Biblical, Spirit-led and Prayerful.

At CBC our Vision helps us to understand where we are headed, and our seven Core Values shape everything that we do and say.


Today is the last in our series of Friday posts looking in more detail at each element of our Vision and Values. If you missed any of the series then click on the links above or to see the whole series at once use the Labels at the bottom of the page.

Today we're looking at what it means to be a prayerful community. As I have said before these values are not listed in any order of importance which may suggest that prayer is the least, or the most, important of our seven core values - but prayer is vital - in that without it we can't do anything.

Now, clearly that last statement is not true. There are plenty of people who do a lot of things without giving any time to prayer. And many of them will be successful at what they do. But there will be at least two reasons for this.

First, God is a gracious God who sometimes will work through us in spite of our efforts to do things in our strength. But we should not presume on this. Being humble and prayerful acknowledges that we can't do things in our strength without God; it acknowledges that we don't know best and that we need to listen to God for his guidance and wisdom; it acknowledges that all that we are and all that we have has come from God. We live with a constant battle against self and pride and a lack of prayer often reflects an attitude of self-reliance.

The second reason is to do with the way that we measure success. Being biblical requires us to see things within the overarching, big picture that spans from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22; to see things in terms of the Kingdom of God. Often we can fall into the trap of seeing things as successful because we're measuring them with the wrong measure. So if we want to ensure that what we do has eternal and kingdom value and consequences then prayer is vital.

Why do many of us find prayer so hard? I guess we've already touched on one answer to this question - we're proud and self-reliant. Another answer to this question is that prayer doesn't work. Prayer doesn't make a difference. I'm sure we've all been in situations where we've prayed for something to happen - someone to recover from a serious illness, to find work after a prolonged period of unemployment etc - and either nothing has happened or the situation has actually got worse. So what's the point in praying?

I guess if our understanding of prayer is - we ask God for something, God does it - then I'd have to agree: prayer doesn't work, so what's the point.

But is that what prayer really is? Certainly asking God for things is a part of prayer and is biblical. And there are those within CBC who can witness to the fact that sometimes God does answer our prayers in a supernatural and miraculous way. But prayer is much more than that. It is also about deliberately putting yourself in a place where you invite God to show you his perspective, to remind you of that big picture, to remind you of truths that sometimes we forget. I'm sure there will be a quote somewhere, by someone, along the lines of prayer not always changing the situation we're praying about, but changing us within the situation. Giving us peace or hope or strength or forgiveness or love in a situation where without God we would be anxious, despairing, tired, bitter or full of anger and hate and revenge...

So part of what it means to be prayerful as a church involves acknowledging that we can't do anything of true value without God. Acknowledging that we rely on God's wisdom and guidance and not on our own good ideas and abilities. It is also a commitment to seek God's perspective and to see the big picture. And this all means time - spending time, either as individuals, or pairs, or small groups, or as a whole church in prayer - talking to God and creating the space to listen to God too.

Being Spirit-led

Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed

At CBC our Vision helps us to understand where we are headed, and our seven Core Values shape everything that we do and say.

Last week we took a break from our series, but today we continue our more detailed look at our Core Values. If you have missed any of these posts then use the links to catch up - or use the labels at the bottom of the page.

Our Core Values: Loving, Welcoming, Missional, Servant-hearted, Biblical, Spirit-led and Prayerful.

Today we're going to think about what it means to be Spirit-led.

Isaiah 55:8-9 we read: 

'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'

Later this year we're going to be looking at the book of Judges. There are some fairly horrific stories in Judges, the result of the people turning their backs on God and everyone doing 'as they saw fit'. But there are other stories in the Bible where we find people making what seem to be good decisions - but they do so without asking God - and it turns out they did the wrong thing - because God's ways are not our ways...

One of the things that came out of the Vision and Values process last year was a desire as a church to do what God wants. To listen to God's Spirit and to be led by the Spirit. Not to do the things that we think are good ideas, but to do what God wants. But how easy do we find it to separate out our good ideas from what God is really saying? 

This is part of the reason why we come together as a church meeting to listen to God - as God speaks through each of us. It's why we spend time in prayer - not just speaking but also listening. It's why we read the Bible - getting to know God and what he is like.

I'm sure many of us will have known what we thought was the prompting of the Spirit to do or to say something (usually something we didn't want to do) which we have then not done. Listening to the Spirit is something that we can learn. The more obedient we are, the more we get to know what the prompting of the Spirit feels like. The more we ignore the Spirit the less likely we are to know what the Spirit sounds like.

So the next time that you think that the Spirit is asking you to do something don't ignore him. If you're not sure ask the advice of a trusted mature Christian friend. And then step out in obedience and faith and see what God does.

Why you shouldn't do everything you read in the Bible

Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed

At CBC our Vision helps us understand where we are headed and our seven Core Values shape everything that we do and say.

We started to think a bit more about these Core Values a couple of weeks ago - if you missed these posts then use the links below to catch up.

Our Core Values: Loving, Welcoming, Missional, Servant-hearted, Biblical, Spirit-led and Prayerful

This week I want to think about what we mean when we say that we're biblical and what that looks like in practice.

Broadly speaking I guess most of us mean that we believe the Bible and that what we do is governed by what we read in the Bible. The trouble is is that it's not quite as simple as that. We don't do everything that's written in the Bible. 

There are parts of the Old Testament that we would say are cultural and therefore do not apply to us any longer - the question then becomes: how do you decide which bits apply and which bits don't and on what basis do you make that call?

So for example, there will be those who say that it is wrong for a Christian to have a tattoo - and they would base this on Leviticus 19:28. But these same people are happy to ignore another verse earlier in the same chapter verse 19 by wearing clothes that are made of mixed fibres.

And things are not always any easier in the New Testament. Here at CBC we have women in leadership, we have women preachers. Within the Baptist Union we have women ministers. The General Secretary of the Baptist Union is currently a woman. And yet doesn't Paul quite clearly say that this should not be the case in places like 1 Corinthians 14:34?

So what do we mean when we say that we are biblical?

Firstly we recognise that the Bible was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and within its pages we read the story of God and his interaction with men and women throughout history. Therefore when we read the Bible we discover God and find out what he is like.

And although the Bible is divided into two main parts, as well as containing lots of smaller books, it contains one overarching story - and therefore all those smaller parts have to be read and understood within the context of the single overarching story.

At the heart of this story we find Jesus - and the events of the first Easter - the cross and the empty grave. And therefore we learn to read the rest of the story from the perspective of the cross and the empty grave - but also bearing in mind that this story has a beginning and it has an end.

We also appreciate that the times in which we now live are very different to the times when the Bible was written - and therefore all of the Bible is cultural (and not just bits about tattoos or wearing clothes made of two kinds of fibre). And therefore it is never simply the case that we do something because it is written in the Bible.

So when we read the Bible we need to understand first of all what it was saying then - and then ask God to help us answer the question, "if that's what it said then - what is it saying to me now?" So - why is it that Israel were not allowed tattoos? Is it something to do with the practices of the nations around them? And if so why did they have to be different? Are there any similar issues that apply today (which may or may not have anything to do with tattoos)?

Because the Bible is the story of God it is important that we read it. Not just in church on a Sunday but daily - asking God to speak to us as we do so. This is not always easy and there are all kinds of things that can easily get in the way of this discipline.


A number of us here at CBC have committed to reading through the whole of the Bible this year - following the Read Scripture plan from the great people at the Join the Bible Project. One of the great things about this scheme is that at the beginning of every new book, and at various other points along the way they have short (7-8 minute) videos that help explain the book, and provide pointers in understanding what you're reading. You can find out more by visiting their website here.

If you're looking for a book to help you understand and read the Bible I'd highly recommend these two:

How to read the Bible for all its worth and How to read the Bible book by book.

Called to Serve

Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed

Having looked in more detail at our Vision we're now starting to think about our Core Values here at CBC. We have adopted seven Core Values which shape everything that we do and say.

We started to think a bit more about these Core Values three weeks ago - if you missed these posts then use the links below to catch up - or the Values label at the bottom of the page.

Our Core Values: Loving, Welcoming, Missional, Servant-hearted, Biblical, Spirit-led and Prayerful.

Last week, when we were thinking about what it meant to be Missional, I ended by saying that being missional is for the whole church - it is not something that is reserved for the 'professionals', or the 'elite', or the 'fundamentalist fringe'. It is not something that is the responsibility of someone else. As a disciple of Jesus, his expectation is that we will be fruitful, and will disciple others - first by introducing people to Jesus and then helping them to grow in their journey.

In the New Testament, Paul uses the image of a body to describe how the church should work - our mission is to be achieved as every 'part' functions as it should (e.g. 1 Corinthians 12:12-31). So, each person who makes up the church has a role to play, and the whole only works as it should when everyone is playing their part.

Each part is therefore important. But this also requires a servant heart - because we are called to serve. Service is costly and it requires sacrifice - because it requires us to do something that someone else wants us to do rather than what we might want to do ourselves. It means we put someone else's priorities before our own.

In the first century, as the New Testament was being written, servants and slaves were very much a part of life. As a slave you were not your own. You had no rights. You were owned by your master and he told you what to do. And this master-servant relationship is one that is used to describe our relationship to God - although God is portrayed as a good master - just as early Christians we encouraged to be good masters recognising that their servants were not property but people loved by God.

But a Christian is someone who has chosen to become a servant of God. At CBC, as in many Baptist Churches we have a team of 'deacons'. The word 'deacon' comes from a Greek word - diakoneo - which means to serve and is used as a noun 'servant' (e.g. John 2:5). It is interesting to note that many churches are replacing the term 'deacon' which is not really understood outside of the church, with the term 'leadership team', which is widely understood outside of the church - but is not often associated with the qualities of being a 'servant'.

But we are all called to serve - not just a few.

Someone was once asked, 'how will I know whether or not I have a servant heart?'

The answer came back, 'by how you react when you're treated like one.'

How do I react when I'm treated as a servant? When I'm taken for granted. When no one acknowledges my behind the scenes efforts. When I'm left to do it on my own...again. Our responses to these situations will often reveal whether or not we have a servant heart and whether we're serving God or looking for reward elsewhere.

It is appropriate that we look at this theme on Good Friday. Yesterday, we remembered the Last Supper and how Jesus washed his disciples' feet and instructed his disciples that they were to serve each other.

Today, on Good Friday we remember Jesus' death on a cross - obedience to God, even to the point of death.

We follow the one who even though he knew all authority was his, got up and wrapped a towel around his waist and took on the role of a servant to serve his disciples. The one who said to God, 'not my will but yours be done'.

Your mission if you choose to accept it is...

Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed

At CBC, alongside our Vision - which helps us understand where we are headed - we have seven Core Values which shape everything that we do and say.

We started to think a bit more about these Core Values a couple of weeks ago - if you missed these posts then use the links below to catch up.

Our Core Values: Loving, Welcoming, Missional, Servant-hearted, Biblical, Spirit-led and Prayerful

This week we're going to think about what it means to be Missional - and out of the seven Core Values this may be the one that is least self-explanatory. So what do we mean when we say that we are 'missional'?

When we were thinking about our Vision and Values last year, one of the places that we started was the 'Great Commission' in Matthew 28:19-20 where Jesus tells his disciples that part of what it means to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus, is to be someone who makes disciples. The sort of person who shows people what it means to follow Jesus and invites them to follow too. The sort of person who helps people move forward in their walk with God.

And whatever else we may be doing or thinking about doing as a church we need to be demonstrating what it looks like to follow Jesus and giving people the opportunity to follow too. Whatever help or services we may be able to provide, whatever needs we are able to meet - ultimately we believe that the only true answers are found in Jesus. 

Being missional also means that we maintain an outward rather than an inward focus. A few weeks ago I quoted Archbishop William Temple who said, "The church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members." We do what we do - not for our own benefit, but for the benefit of those in our community who don't yet know Jesus.

Being missional also requires us to look wider than just our community. This could be supporting outreach amongst local young people through WCCYM, supporting BU Home Mission projects throughout the UK, support of BMS World Mission or other overseas mission projects we're linked with, or it may mean actually going - being part of a summer team to Romania, for example.

But being missional, whatever that might look like, is not something that is reserved for the specialists or the fundamentalists. It is something that we are all involved in.

Welcome

Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed

Last Friday we started to think about our Core Values - those values that shape everything that we do and say.

Our seven Core Values at CBC are:

Loving, Welcoming, Missional, Servant-hearted, Biblical, Spirit-led and Prayerful

Last week we thought about what it means to be loving, today we're going to think about being welcoming.

If you've been going to church all your life it can be easy to forget just how daunting an experience it can be to walk into a strange church for the first time. Although I grew up attending church at least twice on a Sunday, the first time I visited an Anglican church I was probably in my late teens. I went on my own and I had no idea what to expect. I sat at the back and struggled to follow what was going on - which book was I supposed to be reading out of, when to stand and when to sit, was I allowed to go forward for communion - when should I go, what should I do, were there things I had to say...

New experiences can be quite stressful and it is so much easier if there is a friend who can show you what's what. 

We probably wouldn't invite someone into our home for the first time and just leave them standing in the hallway - we'd make them feel welcome - we'd show them where to sit, we'd ensure they were comfortable, we'd sit and talk to them...

Being welcoming as a church means that we are good at practising hospitality. We make a conscious effort to look out for those who are new and then we make sure that they are made to feel welcome.

We might think that being welcoming is quite an easy thing - not something that will get us into trouble. But being welcoming got Jesus into trouble. For example, in Mark 2:13-17 we read a story where Jesus is happy to eat with the wrong kinds of people - tax collectors and 'sinners' - and as a result he is criticised by the religious establishment.

www.LumoProject.com

James warns us against only showing a welcome to the 'right' sort of people (James 2:1-4). Sometimes showing a welcome to those that others exclude will get us into trouble - maybe not to the extent that Jesus experienced, but we might find ourselves being misunderstood, or being rejected or being excluded as a result.

Depending on which newspapers our work colleagues read, for example, we might find our welcome of and attitude towards refugees makes us stand out in the crowd. In a world where we are increasingly suspicious of anyone who is not like us, we should, as followers of Jesus, be different.

We've talked in past weeks about being authentic - about how church needs to be a place where people feel comfortable to be themselves, to take off the mask. We welcome people as they are - without requiring them to be someone else.

Becoming a follower of Jesus required a lifestyle change - it still does - but the welcome came first. 

www.LumoProject.com

Jesus invited himself to Zacchaeus' house and ate with him (Luke 19:1-10) with no requirement for Zacchaeus to change. But Zac did change - because of the welcome.

Love is...

Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed

Over the last eight Fridays we have been exploring our Vision. If you missed any of these posts use the links above to catch up, or the Vision label at the bottom of the page.

The purpose of our Vision Statement is to give us an idea of where we are headed.

As well as a new Vision we also set out our Core Values - these values help us to understand who we are. All that we do and all that we say should be shaped by our Core Values.

Our Core Values are:

Loving, Welcoming, Missional, Servant-hearted, Biblical, Spirit-led and Prayerful

Although these values are not listed in any kind of order of priority it is appropriate that we start with love. Jesus taught his disciples that the whole of the law hangs on two commands - to love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind; and to love your neighbour as yourself (e.g. Luke 10:25-37).

Later in the New Testament, Paul teaches that no matter how gifted we are, or what we are able to achieve, unless we are acting in love it is all of no more value than the noise of a clanging cymbal (1 Corinthians 13:1-13).

There are many people in today's world who have a very mixed up view of what love looks like. Fortunately as we read through the gospels we discover what love looks like - in the person of Jesus. God is not just loving - God is love (1 John 4:16).

But this picture of love that we discover in the gospels is both comforting and challenging. It is comforting to know that even though God knows everything there is to know about us  Jesus still loved us so much that he was prepared to die on the cross (Romans 5:8).

But it is challenging to know that we are called to love in this totally giving, self-sacrificial way. Demonstrating our love to our enemies as well as our friends.

But this is only possible when we know that we are loved by God. We are only able to love because God has loved us first (1 John 4:19). Everything that we do has to be motivated out of love. Our actions are our response to the love of God that we have already experienced.

So everything that we do and everything that we say is shaped by our knowledge and experience of God's love for us, our love for God and a genuine love for others.

Transformed Lives

Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed

This morning we come to last in our series of Friday posts exploring our Vision here at CBC. Next week we'll begin to think about our seven Core Values. If you've missed any posts along the way use the links above to look at specific posts or the 'Vision' label at the bottom of the page to view the whole series.

When you read through the gospels - the accounts of Jesus' life - you can't help but notice how people's lives were transformed. In the most drastic cases people were brought back from the dead - a transformation for them, but also for their dependant relatives. 

At other times individuals with illnesses that excluded them from the religious and social aspects of Israel's life were healed and restored. 

Lifestyles were turned upside down. People experienced love, forgiveness, hope, joy, peace... in place of loneliness, bitterness, despair, sorrow, anxiety...

Jesus told the disciples that he had come that people may have life - but not just a hanging on in there by the skin of your teeth kind of life - but life to the full. The word that Jesus uses here talks about going beyond, abundant, exceeding, much more, over much ...

Paul talks about the follower of Jesus being a new creation - the old has gone, the new has come.

The symbolism of baptism speaks of this transformed life - no longer being defined by the past, dying to the old way of life, being re-born into a new life, a fresh start.

Jesus and his first followers were in the business of changing lives - or in the case of the disciples, seeing God transform lives through them. Within a few years of Jesus' death and resurrection his disciples had turned the world upside down.

There are many ways in which we can help to bring transformation in people's lives. But true transformation is only possible through the work of the Holy Spirit in a person's life. 

One of the most interesting stories in the New Testament sees a paralysed man lowered through a roof in front of Jesus. He is lowered by his friends who want to see him healed - who want to see him walk and run and jump again. But Jesus' first instinct is to forgive him his sin. He only later heals the man physically as evidence that he has the authority to also forgive sins. You can read this story in Luke 5:17-26. I wonder what was going through the man's mind as this story unfolds around him - what was he thinking as Jesus forgave his sin, but left him paralysed on his mat? What were the friends who had carried him and then made a hole in this roof thinking?

As I place myself in this story what do my thoughts and questions reveal about my priorities and the things that I think are important?

As a church it is right that we expect to make a difference in our community.

Timothy Keller asks the question:

If you and your church were to disappear off the face of the earth tomorrow, would anyone in the community around you notice you were gone? And if the community did even notice would they say 'we are really glad they are gone', or 'we are really going to miss them'?

Archbishop William Temple said about the church:

The church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members.

But what kind of difference should we expect to make?

I believe that as we increasingly become an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God and alongside each other we will see lives transformed. As we are changed - becoming more like Jesus - God will change others through us - because that's what happened when Jesus was around.

And we need to be confident and unashamed of the fact that when we talk about lives being transformed we're ultimately talking about people deciding to follow Jesus. Not everyone who met Jesus in the New Testament decided to follow, many walked away. But for those who followed their lives were never the same again. 


 Picture Credit: LumoProject.com

You'll never walk alone

Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed

As we continue our series of Friday posts exploring our Vision here at CBC, we're again thinking about that theme of journeying, but this week we're looking at what it means to walk alongside each other. If you've missed any of the previous posts use the links at the top of this page, or the 'Vision' label at the bottom to catch up.

Whether you're a sports fan, or more specifically a Liverpool fan, you will probably have heard the massed ranks at the Kop End of Anfield singing the Liverpool anthem, 'You'll never walk alone'. The Liverpool supporters in the early sixties adopted this 'Gerry and the Pacemakers' song as their own. I'm sure those of you at CBC who are Liverpool fans will know all the words and will be able to sing along: 

Walk on, walk on,
With hope in your heart,
And you’ll never walk alone,

You’ll never walk alone.

Last week we were thinking about how God has promised to walk with us on our journey of faith - even when we're walking through the darkest valley, God is with us.

Obviously there are some parts of the world where Christians have to be very careful about making their faith public. Where Christians aren't free to meet with others to sing and pray and read. But Comberton is not one of those places. Here, within CBC, God has surrounded us with other disciples, so that we can encourage and support each other.

When we thought about what it means to be authentic we talked about church being messy - because life is so often messy, and how church needs to be a place where we feel free to take off our masks and be real. When we thought about community we talked about church being a place where we 'do life' together, where we are closely connected with a few people - and about how do we make sure that everybody is closely connected to somebody.

When I look at our new vision I think that these are the bits that are hardest to get right. Certainly there are pockets within the church where this feeling of walking alongside others is working really well. But then there are other parts where individuals feel very much alone. And where we are will very much colour how we think about the church. Some of us have a very positive experience of church, others have a much more painful experience.

If you're a regular part of CBC you will know that I have three daughters but only two hands, and there are times when we're out walking and all three girls want to hold my hand - which just isn't possible - at least it's not if we're going to continue walking at a decent pace and not trip over in the mud.

'Walking alongside each other' requires us all to be involved, and I guess there are three questions we should all be asking.

1 - Who am I walking alongside (who am I supporting and encouraging at the moment)
2 - Who is walking alongside me (who is supporting and encouraging me at the moment)
3 - Who's walking by themselves at the moment - and what are we going to do about it?

The unmerciful servant

This morning as we continued our series on the Kingdom of God, we looked at the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18:21-35. This is a very challenging passage which reminds us of just how much God has done for us - but also at what life in the kingdom looks like.

If you missed this version of the story that we saw this morning you can watch it here.

Walking in step

Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed

Last Friday, in our series of weekly posts exploring our Vision here at CBC, we looked at the idea of walking - that our faith is a journey. Obviously we start where we are, but this is not where we expect to end up. This week I want to think specifically about what it means to be walking in step with God. If you've missed any of the previous posts click on the relevant link above or use the 'Vision' label below to read the whole series. 

As we think about this theme of walking in step with God there are two important ideas that I want us to explore. There is the encouragement that comes from knowing that God is with us as we are on this journey. But the 'in step' part also comes with a challenge to obedience - to be in step with God, rather than out of step.

At the end of last year as we went through the process of discerning God's vision for us, one of the themes that came through repeatedly was a desire to do what God wants. To be obedient to his will. We're happy to stop stuff that we're already doing, or start new stuff up that we're not doing, we're not afraid of change - but what's of overriding importance is 'are we doing what God wants?'

The first occurrence of the word 'walk/ed/ing' in the Bible is found in Genesis 3:8 where we see that one of the consequences of human sin is a break in the relationship between God and people, and that we are no longer free to walk with God. The image created, and then broken, in the first chapters of Genesis is one in which our relationship with God is compared to talking with a friend as you walk through a garden or along a beach in the cool of the evening. But human sin broke that relationship.

If you've been following the Read Scripture plan and watching the videos then you will know that one of the themes of Leviticus and Numbers is ensuring that the camp of Israel is ritually pure so that God can once again dwell with his people. This is a theme that is picked up in the New Testament. The people of God are made pure through Jesus' death. But there is the command for God's people to keep themselves pure so that God is able to live with them and walk among them (e.g. 2 Corinthians 6:16-17).

The desire to walk in step with God is a challenge to daily obedience. To die to self and be obedient to what God's Spirit is saying to us. Yes, it is true, that we often don't get it right, and therefore we daily rely on God's forgiveness - but God's forgiveness is not an excuse to live as you want rather than as God wants. If you want to follow this theme further then I recommend a Bible word search - looking at the word 'walk' in the New Testament. Here are a few to get you going:

• Galatians 5:16 - read on to the end of the chapter.
• Ephesians 5:2 - again continue reading.
• 1 John 1:6-7
• 2 John 6

As well as the call to obedience the idea of walking with God provides us with the encouragement that whatever we are going through - God is with us. Perhaps one of the best known passages of the Old Testament echoes this theme: 'Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me' (Psalm 23:4).

This is certainly my personal experience. The times I have felt closest to God have been the toughest and hardest times in my life.

This gives us confidence, as a church, as we face the future. Because whilst we may not know where God is leading, and we don't know what difficulties and challenges lie ahead - we do know that God has promised that he will be with us, and therefore we do not need to be afraid.

The Parable of the half eaten box of Milk Tray

The kingdom of God is like a box of milk tray. Well, not quite.

Yesterday at CBC we started looking at Jesus' parables in our 'Kingdom of God' series. Three of the next four weeks will be spent exploring more parables. A parable is a story with a point - one of the questions for us is whether or not we can be bothered to try and work out what it is that Jesus is trying to say to us through this story.

Yesterday, as a family, we went to the 'Cluster Tea' at Barton, and our three girls came away with a partially eaten box of chocolates - due to the fact that they won a highly rigged quiz. The last few chocolates in the top layer were eaten during the remainder of the evening. The box was left in the kitchen over night.

This morning, as they eventually all surfaced, all three girls came into the kitchen, saw the box of chocolates, opened the box, closed it again, and went and sat down for breakfast. Not one of them asked for a chocolate.

They have yet to experience a multi-layered box of chocolates. On seeing the empty tray, it never occurred to them that there might be another complete layer underneath. 

And so there is a box of chocolates, in plain sight, that is totally safe from the girls!

So the kingdom of God might not be like a box of Milk Tray, but the parables are a bit like a box of Milk Tray. They are stories that Jesus told - in plain sight. And for those who want to dig a bit deeper, those who think 'there is more here than meets the eye', there are great rewards.

Walking

Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed

This week as we continue our series of Friday posts looking in more detail at our Vision we're going to think about what it means to be walking. If you've missed the previous posts simply click on the relevant word above - or use the 'vision' label at the bottom of the page to pull up the whole series.

Next week we're going to think about what it means to be walking in step with God, this week I just want to think about what it means to be walking.

Walking implies a journey. Going from somewhere to somewhere. And this image of being on a journey is really helpful when we come to think about our own personal life as well as our life together as a church.

This journey language helps us understand that whilst I am obviously where I am now, that is not the place where I am going to end up. And I can get to where I'm going, but no matter how far away that goal is, I can only get there at the rate of one step at a time.

Too often I think we're hindered in our journey with God because we're not where we want to be. We know that we should do more of this and less of that - we don't need anyone to tell us that we are far from perfect - and as a consequence we hold back on doing what it is that God is calling us to be and do - waiting for the day when we've cracked it, for the day when we're finally doing more of this and less of that. And we forget that our life with God is a journey. We somehow think that we're going to get to where we want to be - without a journey that has to start from where we are.

The purpose of a vision statement is to keep the goal, the destination, in mind at all times. So that as we are on this journey, at each junction, at each fork in the road, we decide which way to go based on the destination - is this going to take us closer to our destination or lead us further away?

In the New Testament there is a Greek word, teleio, which is translated in a range of ways including finish, goal, and complete. This idea of being on a journey, of heading somewhere. Here are three passages to think about.

• Acts 20:22-24
• Philippians 3:12-14
• 1 John 4:12

Don't worry - be happy

Two Sundays ago (24 Jan) at CBC, as a part of our ‘Kingdom of God’ series, Toby shared from Jesus’ words in Matthew 6 which in my Bible are headed ‘Do not worry’. If you’re part of a home group and have already looked at this section then you will have thought a bit about what Jesus does and doesn't mean when he says ‘do not worry’. How Paul can, on the one hand say, ‘do not be anxious about anything’ but on the other hand have his own anxieties and worries?

(You will find the home group notes here - the notes you’re looking for are HG 03.)

It would certainly seem as if worry and anxiety are on the increase. The latest edition of the Evangelical Alliance magazine IDEA includes a range of articles related to this issue. In an article on Stress, Wellbeing and the Church, Andrew Parnham writes,

You probably don't need me to tell you that stress is a major cause of unhappiness in our nation. It's the most common cause of longterm sickness absence and 52 per cent of workers say that stress is increasing.

You can read the full article here.

I know that you can use statistics to prove anything but if you consider the amount of money and time that big business is investing on dealing with stress amongst employees they obviously think it is a growing issue. Or maybe they're simply trying to find a way to reduce the stress that they are causing in the first place - realising that people are not machines and you can't simply demand more and more of them without something breaking along the way (but that's another story).

Toby helpfully pointed out what Jesus was not saying in Matthew 6, and what Jesus was saying.

It is on the things that Jesus did say that I want to focus here. In particular I want to go off on a slight tangent and think about what Jesus said in terms of modern (and not so modern) de-stress techniques.

For example, if you look on the NHS website at stress or worry you don't have to read too far before you come across links to practices such as meditation, Mindfulness, tai-chi or yoga, or articles on the value of positive thinking, or the use of apps such as Headspace.

So, where am I going?

Many of these practices, some of which have their roots, (and in some cases a lot more than just their roots), in philosophies that are incompatible with Christianity, do, as we shall see in a minute, encourage practices that are similar to those that Jesus is teaching here. 

Some people look at this and conclude that being a Christian is good for your health because it promotes practises that are medically proven to be good for your physical and mental wellbeing - i.e. it has nothing to do with God. They see Christian discipleship as something that 'works' only because it ticks a range of boxes that meet our physical, spiritual and emotional needs. So, we feel better when we pray or come together as church - but we'd feel equally better if we'd been to a meditation class or sung in a community choir.

A more biblical way to look at this is to recognise that we were created by God, and God therefore knows what is best for us. Therefore it makes sense to listen to our creator when we think about the lifestyle choices we are making on a daily basis. And therefore rather than thinking about a Christian lifestyle simply being one amongst a range of healthy options - we see the life of a Christian disciple as the best way to live life. The alternatives to this way of life, however similar they are in places, are at best a pale reflection of the truth - accessing part of the truth but not the whole truth - and at worst a dangerous lie.

So what did Jesus say? Toby brought out five points from the passage.

Remember the other aspects of life

Jesus reminds us that life is more than what we will eat or drink or wear. [It is important to remember that Jesus is not talking about the legitimate concern to provide for one's daily needs - Jesus is not so much talking to those who don't know where their next meal is coming from, but to those who can't decide which outfit to put on in the morning.]

There is a danger that we spend so long worrying about decisions that are of little or no real consequence that we miss so many things that we have to be thankful for. We stress over what to wear when we could be thanking God for all that we do have. 

One of the reasons that people like Mark Zuckerberg wear the same thing to work everyday is to free up time to think about important stuff and not get bogged down in decisions about what to wear and what cereal to have for breakfast.

It is widely acknowledged that developing a 'gratitude attitude' is a good thing for your health. Being thankful. 

If you're following the Read Scripture plan you will have already discovered this attitude in our daily reading of the Psalms. The Psalms we've read so far are often a mix of highs and lows - but even at the low points the writer chooses to remind himself of God's goodness and to give thanks and praise to God. It is a conscious decision, in the darkness, to reflect and respond to God's goodness and love. Today's reading (Psalm 32) starts with the words, 'blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered'.

Being thankful, as a Christian, takes my thoughts off of myself and my problems and focuses them on God. Focusing on God is always a good place to be. It helps to put things into perspective. Throughout generations the practice of Christian disciples has been to read and pray the Psalms. To create space and an attitude of turning to God and thanking him for his goodness and love.

This post is already a lot longer than I thought it would be - so I'm going to finish there and come back to this later in the week, with Toby's other points: Look at the bigger picture, You are extremely valuable, God looks after you and Focus on the present.