Mike Addis' Blog

A life worthy of revival

2010-05-13T06:38:00.000-07:00

The biographer writes about Martin Lloyd Jones again:

'No man had ever produced a revival, and he was not foolish enough to think or hope for a moment that anything he did or said would produce such an effect, but he hoped to live in such a way that if, and when, a revival came through the grace of God from heaven, they would be worthy of it. That was the spirit in which he took up the ministry'

I remember blogging about revival all throughout last year, as we prayed and sought it. We're still going, in Goldsmiths Uni, we pray about it daily and cry out for it regularly. It's such a heavy desire, the need is so obvious but it's God's call and I'd rather it be His than mine.

Do we live our lives with a desire to make them worthy for a revival. We cannot petition God enough and we cannot earn a revival but will our hearts be ready to receive one if it comes. Revival will surprise our systems and break our expectations and only if we genuinely seek God rather than an image or an idol will be ready to receive the direct work of the Holy Spirit when it breaks out around us.

We cannot regard revival as a hobby

It is our life, opening up ourselves for God's renewal so it can spread from us to this world, begging for it and interceding for this broken world.

Regardless of the Multitude

2010-05-13T06:21:00.000-07:00

I'm reading a biography of Martin Lloyd Jones at the moment. My book only covers the first forty years so I don't know what i do after that but I'm about half way through and MLJ has taken his first ministry job at Sandfields in Aberavon at 26. He left an incredibly promising medical career to deal with the real root of man's problems.

One of his seniors at the hospital wrote to him after they found out about his new role saying these words

'I admire very much a man who plans his own life and goes ahead with it regardless of the multitude who would like to arrange his life for him.'

I found this powerful and challenging. It would've not been a hard route for MLJ to stay in medicine justifying it by his training, skill and its charitable nature but he felt the call of God and went for it all guns blazing. How amazing would it be if we went for this, every day, just seeking God's voice and will - avidly pursuing it.

Always find it exciting reading biographies of the saints. Especially Welsh ones.

Been so long!

2010-05-09T15:58:00.000-07:00

I've decided to start blogging again - I stopped deliberately before uni because I expected to be around a lot more non Christians and didn't think a blog about evangelism would be the sort of thing i'd want someone to stumble upon. Would just be a bit weird. But I figure now that no-one's really gonna accidentally land on it, i'm sure it wouldn't be that off putting and mainly because SO much has been happening lately at Goldsmiths that i want something that reminds me when the revival kicked off!

I've been so overwhelmed by how the Holy Spirit has moved at Goldsmiths over this last term. For me personally, it kicked off after a few sermons about stepping up in reading the word and praying as well as hanging out with some passionate guys from a CU in Westminster. After that Goldsmiths started having prayer every day at 9 in the centre of the uni and so because i was getting up anyway I'd get up at 7 to pray and read the word for an hour or so before.

Alongside this we were running an Alpha course from which people were getting saved and those people started getting involved and bringing such energy and vitality to the Goldsmiths Christian Union. We have like six people meeting every week day to pray in the middle of the uni - its a different six people every day and such a mix of situations and faith levels.

We're opening it up to the uni as well so people can just receive prayer. We've been giving out tea and toast at the SU and seeing loads of people from the uni blessed because of it and then as a bonus wanting to know more about the Christian Union - which leads on to conversations about this amazing Jesus we know!

We meet together two or three times a week for informal bible study and worship - sometimes we worship for hours and hours. The spirit of the Lord has just been blitzing people - people speaking in tongues for the first time, prophecying, gaining wisdom and growing daily. It is just staggering. I'm blown away every time i reflect on it. Salvation is coming to Goldsmiths and is already here. God is so good and the potential for next year is so incredible when the Lord is in control.

some melodious sonnet!

2009-08-10T16:27:00.000-07:00

For once I've not been updating my blog because too much has been happening as a pose to too little but I've been loving this hymn lately

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.

There's a few different versions, try the Sufjan Stevens version, its on Spotify (and on Uke).

Busy weekend

2009-07-28T08:27:00.000-07:00

Had a pretty exciting sunday! I became an uncle to my eldest brother's kid who is still known as Baby Addis! I won't get to see my nephew properly until September but i've seen some pretty cute photo's. It was also that same brother's birthday and I found out that labour is a great distraction from you forgetting to send a birthday card.

I also led worship in church on sunday which went surprisingly well. I was not particularly looking forward to it but I love a new challenge and although, quite contentedly, I felt I didn't do much musically (especially when my guitar string broke in the first song, lol) it was amazing to experience God showing up. In both meetings, the theme of revival came up. The topic felt like it had been untouched in our main meetings and it was awesome to have it prayed after. I even got to speak about the welsh revival which is always fun!

The first of the two things God put on me last friday (see previosu post) about people passionate about revival prophetically spreading that excitement has already started happening in abundance. Loads of people have come up to me to talk about when we're praying next and the elders in our church prayed out about revival in the sunday meetings. We also went to a joint meeting with some other churches and saw a passion for Sidcup far outweighing our own.

The snowball rolls on!

The snowball started rolling...

2009-07-27T08:31:00.001-07:00

So we prayed on Friday night and it felt like I got caught by a snowball rolling. I've been challenged recently, as I think a number of people have, to pray for revival and for God to move and expand his kingdom in Sidcup. That evening we started petitioning God for this. We started showing him that our hearts, like His, are not satisfied with the way things are.

Two words God put to me (And I don't say that lightly):

People who are seeking God's heart for the poor, for the spiritually ignorant, the broken hearted and people captivated by addictions and sin need to step up in action and live and speak prophetically as a challenge to the rest of the church. Not cynically or critically but with contagious excitement and passion. I know there are a lot of people who think this way but yet it seems like we don't even have the faith to pray for it in church - this needs to happen more.

I also had an image of the church (the body of Christ) replacing the church building; standing just as tall and sweeping its arms out to Bird college, all the surrounding houses, Marlowe house and as it drew people in, it grows and reaches further. I don't care about church growth but I do care for The Church's growth and God's Kingdom.I think that's enough but we covered a whole board in prophecies, visions and bible verses. Was a pretty awesome night

Left hungry...

2009-07-23T03:05:00.000-07:00

Had a family meeting at church last night and there was a real sense of openness to God. The meeting ran quite informally and we prayed over some illnesses and just sought God. At the end of it, there was a real desire especially amongst some of the younger guys just to keep going, to keep grabbing hold of God, wrestling till something happens.

I think that hunger for God is so important but we try and avoid it because we're so scared that nothing will happen. That we'll let ourselves become all worked up and motivated for something that's never going to happen. We should be in a state of mind which is in pain whenever we're not seeing revival, it's scary to have our heart softened in that way and the world encourages us to harden ourselves against disappointment...but we don't have a disappointing God.

We have a God who keeps His promises and His promises are pretty amazing. I really want to see revival wherever I go and kingdom growth. I don't know how to do it or create it (cos I can't) but I know at the heart of revival is people crying out to God and letting their hearts burn for God and for people. So that's where I'll start

Books galore!

2009-07-14T03:04:00.000-07:00

I do like it when Amazon sends me books, I finished Brave New World the other day and my reading list has just been topped up with Don Quixote and Anna Karenina. In the introduction to Anna Karenina, there is a quote from Tolstoy which I thought was pretty cool

" ...the aims of art are incommensurate with social aims. The aim of an artist is not to solve a problem irrefutably , but to make people love life in all its countless inexhaustible manifestations. If I were to be told that I could write a novel whereby I might irrefutably establish what seemed to me the correct point of view on all social problems, I would not even devote two hours to such a novel; but if I were told that what I should write would be read in twenty years time by those who are now children and that they would laugh and cry over it, and love life, I would donate all my life and all my energies into it. "

I'd recommend Philip Yancey's 'Soul Survivor' as a brief look at Tolstoy and Dostoevsky as incredible Christian writers and inspirations (although both with plenty of problems).

The Global Tug of God

2009-07-10T12:10:00.000-07:00

At Together on a Mission, Mbonisi Malabi (Bones) spoke the opening plenary on the global tug of God. He challenged people to grow from a local heart to a global heart, to expand our vision.

God lays on us a challenge to go to the nations.

You can have a response like Isaiah and say Here I am, Send me.

A response like Moses and lay down your conditions

or be like Jonah and run the other way.

Bones picked up on the story of Jonah. He pointed out how everyone has a good excuse to say 'no' to the global tug of God but actually nothing really counts when God is calling you.

What was a great difference to any classic talk on Jonah was the emphasis was taken from the whale to the final verse: Jonah 4:11. God's heart was 'In Ninevah, there are 120 000 people who are spiritually clueless. I care and I want you to care too.'

In the same way we can intensely love one person, God intensely loves every one of those 120,000 people. That principle of loving people leads to working where people are hence NFI's aim for taking cities with the gospel, simply more individuals to love. We are challenged to go to people, globally or locally.

Together on a Mission

2009-07-10T11:53:00.000-07:00

Way too much to blog! I spent the last week at a New Frontiers conference called Together on a Mission with some guys from my church and a few thousand leaders, students and twenties from NFI churches and partners. Was absolutely amazing; intense but so much fun.

I'm not really able to get down everything I learnt in a single blog post so I'll probably do a few on this week. I'll try and do short summaries of each of the talks for others benefit but mainly to remind myself of all the valuable lessons. Overall, the week was an incredible time of fellowship, revelation, inspiration and challenge. God spoke throughout and it was a pleasure to listen and to have his plans for the future unfold before. I felt I received peace about a lot of things such as leadership and character while new challenges have been stirred up and I look forward to going through them with God.

It was a great, godly time with great, godly friends and a godly, global family on a godly, global mission. Even as an NFI newbie, I felt excited about its past, present and future as an 'apostolic sphere', what God has achieved through it and what he will continue to achieve internationally.

Seek the Lord!

2009-07-06T17:12:00.000-07:00

2 Chronicles 7:14 - "If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways ; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land"

Isaiah 43:19 - "Behold I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert"

Isaiah 61:4 - "They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations"

Coming from a village church of less than thirty, it's very easy to feel like you've stepped into something pretty cool and exciting in a local church of a few hundred yet I still feel drawn to verses like those above. However thriving our church may appear, we are in a devastated land, a wilderness, a desert - a place that needs healing. God uses us to bring healing, Isaiah 61 is all about social transformation through the Spirit's anointing on God's people.

We need to not get distracted by the numbers that are in the church and keep remembering the massive number of souls that are being lost around us. I've been really excited by our student's group's response. It feels like we've stepped up a notch in seeking the Lord, like God has revealed how necessary it is and started drawing us to his face and into his will. We had a great night of prayer a few weeks ago and its been followed up by spontaneous prayer times and an increase in disciplined prayer.

We had a service on listening, receiving and seeking prophecy this sunday and it was great to be reminded of the promises God has put over our church and how we really can have faith in them.

So... we just continue to seek his will and follow it and see what happens!

Ps 27:8

Psalm 88:5

Joel 2:12-18

Hosea 10:12

Mandolintastic

2009-07-01T01:41:00.000-07:00

I made a resolve the other day that to buy a second guitar just because I like guitars would be greedy. I have a nice, more than adequate guitar. I don't think you can give a generic list of what purchases would count as greedy and what isn't but for me a second guitar would be too much.

The question is, does a mandolin count? It was a close contest between the banjo and the mandolin and eventually I went for the cheaper and easier to play mandolin. I got back home last night at about ten and it was waiting for me resting against the fireplace. I took about five seconds to rip off the thirty layers of packaging and then tried playing it. I wasn't sure if it was out of tune or whether I just didn't know how to play (Best tuning spiritual metaphor in the comment section wins a prize) but it sounded bad.

After a few hours I can now play Hallelujah (Your love is amazing) and Holiday in Spain.

I like my mandolin.

Make Jesus Famous

2009-06-25T08:07:00.000-07:00

What more exciting call do we have as Christians than to make Jesus famous; His incredible works, His revolutionary teachings, His life changing example. Church Army, the organisation I work for, has grabbed a hold of this and, as a society of Evangelists with a desire to equip and encourage others to spread the amazing good news of Jesus "Oh no he di'nt" Christ, will launch the Make Jesus Famous campaign on June 30th.

But, if you're passionate about Evangelism and cannot wait to get involved (I can see it in your eyes!) then go on www.makejesusfamous.org.uk/staging and sign up, contribute an Evangelism idea and have a think how you can Make Jesus Famous!

I'm excited about this campaign because I believe strongly in the greatness of Jesus, that even if I mess up in my witness or if the church is hypocritical and judgmental and scares people off, Jesus is still a solid rock. He is attractively offensive; perfect, pure, holy and yet welcoming. If He becomes greater and I become less then I've got nothing to worry about.

But nothing ever happens...

2009-06-24T07:43:00.000-07:00

I am really passionate about good Christian media. It's so rare that it becomes a pleasure to hear or see even a little. I've been listening to some Christian radio clips in work for a competition of the best Christian radio programmes. A few good ones sneak through but the majority are pretty awful. We don't do funny at all, we just don't get it, a silly accent or some cliched one liners is all we've got. "Did you hear the one about the guy who walked on water? It's no joke, get serious about Jesus" Shoot me.

A colleague and I were discussing about how there are few really good mainstream Evangelical fiction writers, lyricists or poets. So much of poetry and literature is about the process of discovery and holding two conflicting ideas in tandem. As a Christian, I hold an absolute worldview, that is still developing but from a pretty fixed point. I really admire Christians who can keep their integrity and beliefs but at the same time create something which is intriguing and thought provoking.

Sufjan Stevens and Josh Garrells are two of these and I've mentioned them before in this blog. I'm not talking about matching budgets and production ability but about writing and creating books, poetry and lyrics that are honest about Christian life experience and have enough depth and placement in reality that anyone can listen to them and be able to relate.

One of my favourite Sufjan Stevens lines (and it makes a complete difference if you hear it in the context of the song - Casimir Pulaski Day) is

"Tuesday night, at the bible study,

we lift our hands and pray over your body

but nothing ever happens"

You can listen online to some of their songs on Spotify

The least rebellious Rage fan

2009-06-18T05:04:00.000-07:00

Normally in my office, the only music you hear is gentle Sigur Ros, maybe a bit of Bon Iver or Sufjan Stevens. Today, for the first time in an ages I started listening to Rage Against The Machine, so freaking gooood! Did get a few weird looks when "**** you, I won't do what you tell me" came on. I switched to headphones.

I do love some nice anti-authority, angry, Left wing, polemical lyrics set to a rap/heavy/punk/thrash/metal blend. It makes me want to be a bit more rebellious, y'know, swear at the queen, steal a traffic warden's hat, smash up a public institution (maybe just a telephone box), lol.

I know that when I see Christianity presented as counter cultural and investing in different values to the rest of society, I find it so much more attractive. It seems ridiculous to call it an opiate for the masses when it challenges consumerism, family(which is in essence a media created abstract idea used for control), debt, poverty, injustice, etc.

It encourages us to attack the social norm and the divide between rich and poor. The year of Jubilee in Jewish custom was a way of cancelling debt and stopping the rich and poor becoming polarised. Many of the class reformers from history have been motivated by their faith; Martin Luther King Jr, Dom Helder Camara, Desmond Tutu. I can see how its been used to oppress but it can equally be a tool to give power back to the Have Nots.

There's a part of me which is gutted that I'm a positive, contributing member of what is largely an unjust society but I get the feeling as the world becomes more PC, my faith will be pushed to a more radical edge and I'll get my day to subversively rage against the machine even in submission to God. Probably won't appreciate it as much on that day but I feel its healthy for a young man to want to be a revolutionary.

He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world

2009-06-17T02:07:00.000-07:00

In September I'm starting in Goldsmiths Uni in S.London studying Media and Modern Literature. I'm really excited but thats laced with a few worries. For one, I don't particularly want to carry the student title for three years. It's been great to have been earning and you definitely get treated differently when your working.

Studenthood seems to be one of the best times for Christians to be in genuine relationships with non Christians and so I see it as a great opportunity to share the Good News of Christ. I'm probably more excited about being an Evangelist on campus than anything else. I was quite worried about this for a while, worried that I'd be a bad witness or that I'd be influenced by my surroundings but I've been really encouraged aswell. I believe solidly that Christians and the church shouldn't be on the back foot but constantly on the attack. We are light in the darkness and the darkness cannot extinguish the light, we are salt changing the taste and way of the world around us.

So I'm confident next year in God working through me, I have no confidence in my own strength as I know how easy it is to mess up but God is so good and so powerful. My housemate is taking over the student work in our church and its been so exciting talking and discussing his plans for this september. It's been a massive blessing to be praying over this sort of thing and having the Almighty God of Heaven and Earth present with us hearing and speaking to us. Having Him close gives so much more confidence for the coming term, its crazy but amazing!

100th Blogpost!

2009-06-05T08:00:00.001-07:00

I have been fretting over doing something incredibly spiritual and wonderful for my 100th Blogpost. In the meantime I came up with a load of ideas and completely unspiritual things about the church and Christianity. SO...

for my 100th Blogpost, I am proud to announce the launch of

www.twentythreetwenty.wordpress.com - "23twenty"

The church contains the greatest examples of the sublime and the ridiculous. I believe passionately and unashamedly in the gospel of Jesus Christ but His church is such a wonderously hilarious place. I love it but it is ridiculous. I’ve always believed that following Christ is something everyone can do in every situation, we need to be so careful to avoid falling into a narrow mindset and a Christian subculture. It makes me chuckle and gasp.

So 23twenty is the steam rising - my outlet and my observations…

…and I think God’s with me on this as He’d have to have a sense of humour to use the biggest mish mash of mentals and rejects to make up the body of Christ that I’m incredibly excited to be a part of. I plan to use this space to look at all the embarrassing bits of church that you can only see from the inside and we should be so very, very glad about that.

Colossians 2: 6-15

2009-06-01T15:18:00.000-07:00

In verses 6 and 7, Paul challenges the believers in Colossae to live in Christ, have a foundation in Christ, to be built up in Him, to be fortified by faith as they were taught and to be overflowing with thankfulness. This covers so much. Our whole life has to be based on Christ, He has to be our reason for every action in our daily lives and we need to recognise that it is all about Him. Even as we become strong we have to be constantly thankful for the grace that makes the weak powerful.

Verse 8 is a blunt reminder to avoid false teaching, deceptive philosophies and earthly wisdom. We have to be so careful to avoid false teachers that challenge the truth of the character and word of God. We sometimes also fall for what the world takes as wisdom - there is no such thing as being too heavenly minded for earthly use, that's not biblical and its not true. Earthly wisdom, human tradition and clever sounding philosophies will all have an element of truth but will ultimately usurp our foundation in Christ if we let it.

Verse 9 talks of Christ's deity and the next verses reveal the power that contains and the power that is in us through Him!

From God's perspective the world must have looked pretty dark, every single person had sinned and was dead in their sin. All of creation was tainted by sin and death and in the midst of that darkness, Christ. Christ did more than just beat sin and death, he made a public spectacle of it by nailing it to the cross. He showed how weak and pathetic the darkness is compared to the light!

And now the church needs to walk in that because that same power resides in us. We are on the attack and I'm fed up of the church acting like its on the back foot all the time.

Christ has disarmed the powers of this world - all the devil has left is two fingers in the back and we're falling for his trick, forgetting how powerful our God is and what he can do with this land and with His church.

Out of the mouths of babes

2009-05-29T02:55:00.000-07:00

We have daily prayers in my office and around our prayer room are littered candles, prayer requests and some awesome prayers from kids. I thought I'd share some of them...

"God, I would like to live 900 years like the guy in the Bible. Love Chris."

"Dear God, If you give me a genie lamp like Aladdin, I will give you anything you want except my money or my chess set. Raphael."

"Dear God, If you had not let the dinosaurs go extinct we would not have a country. You did the right thing. Jonathan."

"Dear God, Please put another holiday between Christmas and Easter. There is nothing good in there now. Ginny."

"Dear God, If you watch in church on Sunday I will show you my new shoes. Mickey."

"Dear God, If we come back as something, please don't let me be Jennifer Horton because I hate her. Denise."

A Saturday of Weakness...

2009-05-23T15:52:00.000-07:00

Had a really nice day today, started way too early with a men's breakfast at church, had a shower at the centre which was a great change from our bath. Went to a barbecue in the afternoon followed by about six hours of cricket, was amazing. Unfortunately, in my careless enthusiasm for the game, I broke my flip flops. They now just flop. These were so beautifully worn, I've slipped over in them in Jamaica, in America, in all sorts of places around Europe and now they're useless.

So, after we watched Austin Powers and ate a shedload of cake after the cricket, I walked the forty minute walk home barefoot. Simple thing but really enjoyed it, took a different route and almost got lost which is always fun. I also carried the broken flip flops with me, not sure why, I think it's just hard to let go.

I popped my contact lenses out when i got home to realise that I'd left my backpack behind at the barbecue, with my glasses in. Now I'm about an inch away from the screen trying to type.

I'd be so screwed if I didn't have glasses, when I read Lord of the Flies, the worst bit for me is when they steal Piggy's specs. I hate having them but I'm useless without them.

I love the series we did as a church a while ago on Our Identity in Christ, when I feel rubbish cos of being bad at cricket, or socially awkward or completely blind - to know that I am in Christ and He, unbelievably, is in me is just incredible. On the walk back I was feeling pretty low reflecting on all my character flaws (never a good thing to do) but just thinking about Christ now has left me grinning.

It's also because my laptop is resting on my chest and face in an attempt to get a comfortable closeness.

Counting Crows in Wembley Arena

2009-05-15T16:03:00.000-07:00

I went to see my favourite band, Counting Crows, last night. They were so good. One of the support bands was really good aswell so check out www.myspace.com/goblindpilot

It was quite possibly the best gig I've ever been to. They opened with a brilliant original acoustic piece and played a selection from across the 5 albums. Such an awesome atmosphere unlike anything else. It's a weird place to be as a Christian because singing along with such passion feels scarily close to worship sessions, I imagine football supporters get a similar feeling. The mix of awe, enjoyment and nostalgia with an amazing band is almost overwhelming.

Its almost like you leave your Christian self at the door and go in, you don't go crazy sinful but just for a few hours, you don't really worry about all the God stuff. Yet I believe in a God and a faith which encompasses every aspect of life so should a Christian in a gig look, act and be different to everyone else? What would that look like?

Further into the fire

2009-05-11T01:26:00.000-07:00

I had a picture the other day of a pearl covered in gunk, and rust, and crap blackened and disgusting. It was being held by some tongs and being pushed into a fire. It went slower and slower as it went into the hotter parts of the flame and the effort of pushing it became harder. As it went further into the fire, the gunk and rust and all the tarnishes were melted off and it was left shining. Perfect and refined.

It's not really a subtle picture but the application is a tough one. We need to be in intense relationship with God, crying out to him regularly, spending intimate time with Him. You can't be in God's presence for long without it affecting our sinful selves and it'll be painful but its necessary. We'll not conquer our sin by human effort but as we open ourselves up to God, his Holy Spirit will change us from the inside out.

We're thinking of doing nights of prayer with our student group, just to push into the flame to be refined for God's use. We need to be worshippers first and let anything and everything come out of that. I always wish that the church was doing more to effect the communities around it and I hate the idea that we just have a worship blessfest and don't do anything but unless we are being prompted by the spirit and our actions come from love for God and people then it is pointless and meaningless in the long run.

So my challenge for myself and others is to push into God in prayer and worship to be refined by his presence.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me...

2009-05-08T15:20:00.000-07:00

I've just got back from an amazing time of worship with the youth of our church. We spent some time looking into the passage in Isaiah 61 that Jesus quotes in the temple when he begins his public ministry. It's a passage that has inspired me before but I felt so challenged by this.

In Isaiah, it is a prophecy about the regeneration of a society under God's reign. It is a description of the Kingdom. We have the spirit's anointing to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour. So I want to be a witness to and proclaim the year of Jubilee, that people's debts have been cancelled, their sins forgiven. I want to see the Kingdom as its played out among people, love and mercy, freeing the captives, returning sight to the blind.

I want to be in an intense relationship with God, refined daily by his fire in His presence.

I want to be rooted in God's word. Loving his laws and commandments.

I want to move in the spirit, expecting miracles, prophecy, words of knowledge, visions, dreams and all His good gifts.

I want a circumcised heart, my motivation for my actions being my love for Him.

I want to follow Jesus' manifesto to heal this broken world and be a part of the Kingdom come!

Humility, meekness and none of my own work!

2009-05-06T10:28:00.000-07:00

Just recommending again, www.owencottom.blogspot.com . Owen's currently blogging a series on the beatitudes. There's some incredible insight and wisdom and so everyone should go now and check it out. Now!

If you haven't already heard it,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzqTFNfeDnE

S.M Lockridge's speech on the seven way King - Jesus Christ.

(The S.M is short for Shadrach Meshach - What a guy)

Who are you?

2009-05-04T04:24:00.000-07:00

I have a couple of days left of being a teenager and I wish i had some insightful observation about the last twenty years. Its funny when your young, you look at 19 and twenty year olds and imagine them to be adults. There's a sensation that there is a specific divide between youth and adulthood. We feel like there will be a point when we are 'grown up'.

I asked some of the guys in my office casually when they felt like they had become adults. Their answers were quite poignant and in some cases painful and it seems like our point of maturity is quite a difficult one to depict.

The sermon in my church this sunday was on roles of men and women and the preacher's wife shared how often (in this case women, but I think it fits for men) we can try and be defined by our roles. She mentioned how we expect to feel like an adult after uni and no-one does, and then again if we get married and again if we have kids. People retain their insecurites and even get new ones in this time. The challenge was to find our identity in Christ and to fulfill our personal roles influenced but not defined by our gender, age and character.

A lot of the concepts and categories we are thrown into have been created by media and marketing over the past century and so it becomes awkward when we don't nicely fit the stereotype of 'an adult' 'a man' 'a professional' etc. I haven't felt defined as a teenager for a while but even before I've gone to Uni, I seem to find myself defined as a student due to age and association. I suppose my challenge is how I break out of that stereotype, especially over the next three years, to remain defined by Christ in me and not by what the world imposes.

Comfort for the weary?

2009-04-21T07:22:00.000-07:00

I'm at the Church Army society conference this week. Jackie Pullinger is the main speaker for it and challenged us all today with her story and the work that she has been doing with the poor in Hong Kong. I worry that Church Army and the majority of the church in the West has become far too soft. The radical work of the disciples and the Holy Spirit is just not evident in our ministries.

Mother Theresa was old. She had seriously damaged feet because every time someone gave her shoes, out of love she gave them away. That is the idea of losing our lives to gain them and carrying our cross. How far are we from that? In handling the bookings for this conference I had people asking for ensuite rooms and for all their whims to be answered. Their is a mindset that minister's need to have loads of blessings because their role is hard. It is ... but who said a cross was gonna be light. I do feel like an idiot saying this because I've not had to face this yet but Im hoping that when I do, I take the narrow path.

It's a weird one because its our natural response when we see someone in ministry who is tired and suffering to want to bless the and comfort them. The church gives minister's a salary, a house, a car, a pension and even though this is a great way of enabling them to do the work of the Lord it can also be a way of trapping our most passionate people into comfort and stopping them from hearing God's difficult calls to difficult roles.

Lately its started to grate against me when people read bible verses about God helping the weak and the weary and the poor and thinking that its referring to us in the west. We aren't the people who are suffering injustice, society isn't oppressing us. How have Western churches managed to turn a missional church into such a personal blessfest? It's a tough thing to say to someone who feels like they're suffering, but our quality of life is so high that we need to start serving soooo much more.

I worry that I might be too comfortable already and am looking forward to the rest of Jackie's talks this week to challenge and break me.

In Westminster Abbey

2009-04-14T16:09:00.000-07:00

Let me take this other glove off
As the vox humana swells,
And the beauteous fields of Eden
Bask beneath the Abbey bells.
Here, where England's statesmen lie,
Listen to a lady's cry.

Gracious Lord, oh bomb the Germans,
Spare their women for Thy Sake,
And if that is not too easy
We will pardon Thy Mistake.
But, gracious Lord, whate'er shall be,
Don't let anyone bomb me.

Keep our Empire undismembered
Guide our Forces by Thy Hand,
Gallant blacks from far Jamaica,
Honduras and Togoland;
Protect them Lord in all their fights,
And, even more, protect the whites.

Think of what our Nation stands for,
Books from Boots' and country lanes,
Free speech, free passes, class distinction,
Democracy and proper drains.
Lord, put beneath Thy special care
One-eighty-nine Cadogan Square.

Although dear Lord I am a sinner,
I have done no major crime;
Now I'll come to Evening Service
Whensoever I have the time.
So, Lord, reserve for me a crown,
And do not let my shares go down.

I will labour for Thy Kingdom,
Help our lads to win the war,
Send white feathers to the cowards
Join the Women's Army Corps,
Then wash the steps around Thy Throne
In the Eternal Safety Zone.

Now I feel a little better,
What a treat to hear Thy Word,
Where the bones of leading statesmen
Have so often been interr'd.
And now, dear Lord, I cannot wait
Because I have a luncheon date.

Don't normally like Betjeman but this cut me deep.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night...

2009-04-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

My kinsman and homeboy Dylan Thomas reflecting on his dying father.

The second stanza is referring to religious people. While I always thought it was wrong that I should not be looking forward to the Father's embrace at the end of life, I can actually see Thomas' point.

How much more should I care about what I do with my life when I know that everything holds eternal value. Even as a young man I think its important to think that I will not go gentle into the night but rather rave against the dying of the light.

I watched the whole extended series of Lord of the Rings yesterday (admittedly, very little eternal value) and it just makes me want to be a hero. Aragorn's final speech about 'a day when the courage of men will fail...but that is not today!" I think being a Christian is a challenge to speak words that will fork lightning and to use our lives to the full before we go to see the king

Doctrine of Clothing

2009-04-09T04:01:00.000-07:00

Random thoughts get me in the middle of a busy work day. I started thinking about how clothing carries massive significance in the bible, from skin to sackcloth to linen.

It seems our clothing matters, which is not something I've ever thought about as I'm currently braving Sidcup's cold wind and rain in an outfit I like to call 'shortscasual'.

The start of the fashion industry came pretty soon after the fall and Genesis makes a point to tell us about how mankind stopped wandering round in the buff and kitted up. Clothing carries significance, things like linen respresents forgiveness and righteousness (check the four posts on linen earlier this year). Sackcloth is for sorrow and repentence. White clothing can mean holiness, purple for nobility, gold for victory and many more

There are strict clothing rules that even forbid mixing certain fibres.

In Genesis, God makes clothing from the skins of animals for Adam and Eve. This may just seem like a nice thing to do to keep them warm but there is a deeper significance.

In Hebrews it says "Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins". Adam and Eve's nakedness outside the garden was a thing of shame and disgrace. God's response is to sacrifice some of his incredible newly created animals to clothe them and briefly remove their shame.

We should be so inspired by the symbolism of this act as it shows God's sovereignty and plan right from the beginning. As we look at the cross and the resurrection this week and see God's great redemptive act we can understand that it wasn't a plan B after the fall.

From being clothed in skin and death, to sackcloth and repentence, to linen and righteousness, God is in control.

Maundy Thursday and The Resurrection

2009-04-08T16:22:00.001-07:00

The Resurrection,

The great twist at the end of the gospel.

No-one could've seen that coming.

Jesus, now well on the way up to Jerusalem, took the Twelve off to the side of the road and said, "Listen to me carefully. We are on our way up to Jerusalem. When we get there, the Son of Man will be betrayed to the religious leaders and scholars. They will sentence him to death. They will then hand him over to the Romans for mockery and torture and crucifixion. On the third day he will be raised up alive."

Well, Jesus did mention that.

Now that's not your average, vague, “I'm getting a picture of a seahorse on a motorbike” kind of prophecy. Jesus pretty clearly states how the next few days are gonna go down. He tells the disciples that its gonna get a bit nuts but its all gonna end up okay.

Half a week or so after Jesus says this, on what we now call Maundy Thursday, the disciples are sitting in comfort with friends having a meal with him. They'd seen the triumphal entry, seen people cheering for Jesus and they'd basked in the reflected glory. They didn't really see any of this mockery or torture going on.

In a few hours they would sell Jesus out, scatter from him, deny him while standing in the same courtyard and lose all their faith in the resurrection he spoke of.

Judas trusted money over the promise of resurrection, Peter's fear kept him from trusting in the resurrection, Thomas couldn't believed that Jesus was bigger than death and so couldn't believe in a resurrection.

Yet the resurrection is our hope when everything gets a bit nuts, sometimes we don't see it cos we've been sitting in comfort too long or because we think that the darkness is too big. Jesus knew the darkness was coming, knew that he'd suffer but he knew that the light would win out. We need to know that its not ever going to be simple or easy but that it is going to end up way better than just okay.

The resurrection isn't the twist at the end of the gospel, it is the gospel.

We have to talk about the resurrection on Maundy Thursday, on Good Friday and every day because it is in both the darkness and in our comfort that the resurrection focuses us on God.

On Him

Part of EA's synchronised blogging on the Resurrection ... http://www.eauk.org/slipstream/

Breakout!

2009-04-07T08:38:00.000-07:00

I just spent the last two days at a "Pioneers" conference. It was for leaders of church plants, fresh expressions and churches seeking to be mission minded. Most people there were doing church outside of any traditional or inherited model.

They were all trying to communicate the gospel to people who simply don't know church; not through their parents, not through a friend, not at all.

One of the difficulties that they reflected upon was opposition from the church. Christian's are quite comfortable in their big social club church and don't want people bursting in who are difficult and rude and challenge that.

Others struggled with the loneliness of being a pioneer. Alot of the people were from middle class backgrounds and found themselves in difficult, working class environments where everything was unstable. They spent all their time giving but rarely received.

Another difficulty was how to disciple people who are completely 'unchurched'. People can become a part of a fresh expression which can appear more like a social group with a Christian ethos than a style of church. They become attached to the structure but don't actually make a commitment to Christ.

These things are being worked on though and all in all it just inspired me to see a large group of people who have sacrificed comfort, ease, structure, time, energy, health and lots more because they love people enough to share the gospel with them.

Full up on Christ!

2009-04-01T16:14:00.000-07:00

Been reading Colossians again. I'm on the second part of chapter one now, from verse 15 onwards. It opens this stunning passage about Christ with the words

"He is the image of the invisible God"

What a concept! For the Jews the idea of the invisible God was an important one. When God chatted to Moses in the desert, He very clearly stated "I AM" , not "I AM... A Horse" or "I AM ... the Sun" but simply and yet profoundly "I AM".

God was showing that, unlike the gods of Egypt and the idols of Baal, etc. He was far too big and powerful to describe with a shape or an image. He didn't rely on anything. Throughout the old testament and new, God scoffs at idols that have to be propped up just to be worshipped. With the ten plagues, He categorically kicks the asses every poor image that the Egyptians follow.

Paul teaches us that in Christ, this absolutely masssssive fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

This is not God shrinking to fit inside a human. This is an incredible statement about the awesome importance and magnitude of Christ. This letter challenges Syncretism (don't ya just hate silly Christian words) which is the concept of picking and choosing from a selection of usually exotic beliefs often as a top up the gospel.

Syncretism is ridiculous! Because Christ ... is absolutely massive, I mean really big, really, really big.

"To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. "

The gospel is not just sufficient, it'll damn near drown you. The Gospel is a deep mystery and when the fulness of God is in Christ and Christ is in us then you don't have room for anything else.

I remember a guy being told by a Mormon that he needed Joseph Smith aswell as Christ and his overwhelmed response was "I just don't have any more room. I'm FULL, completely full. Where would I put him? In my arms? No, Christ's there. In my legs? Nope...Christ."

This should be our attitude to everything that tries to add to the gospel and whenever we're told we need more than grace. We don't have any more room, We are overflowing with Christ and Grace.

I love Kung FUUUUU!!!!

2009-03-30T11:40:00.000-07:00

Watched Tony Jaa's "Warrior King" last night. I don't say this lightly but its the best kung fu film ever (if we categorise Matrix as Sci Fi). Absolutely no plot except one man's love for his elephants.

Tony Jaa runs into a room, screams "Where are my elephants?" in Thai and then kicks some ASS!!!

Honestly, its unbelievable. If you are a fan of unnecessary violence as I assume my mainly Christian readership are then watch this film. If anyone can present to me a better Kung fu film then I will gladly watch it and then call them a liar. Hero and House of Flying Daggers are both awesome for cinematography and plot but for sheer Kung Fizzle then it has to be Warrior King.

If you want a taste, you tube Tony Jaa. What a guy!

What I learned...

2009-03-30T00:02:00.000-07:00

A year since I got back, I've been reflecting this morning about my time in Jamaica. I force myself to think about it alot because it was probably the hardest month of my life but probably featured the most growth.

If anyone who doesn't know me well is reading this, on my gap year I did three months training in Evangelism in Liverpool with Church Army. After that I went overseas on my own to Jamaica, supposedly for six months. For many reasons, I only stayed for a month before I decided to come home and finish my year working in Liverpool.

For me, leaving after a month was probably the most painful and embarrassing thing I've ever done.

I won't go into too much detail about why I left but it was a combination of being the guinea pig for a new gap year program, an inability to cope with the isolation of being in rural Jamaica and fish sandwiches (just a dead fish in bread).

I absolutely hate giving up on things but it got to a point in Jamaica where, after a month of having no work and no social life that I felt I had to go to save my sanity.

Which is weird because I was meant to go there. Alongside a few silly little signs; kept getting my tea in a Jamaica mug, Marley air conditioning and a few others, my fleece before the Lord had been found dry in a puddle:

We'd given a deadline for Jamaica to respond to confirm whether they could take me, Jamaica didn't know that deadline but at midnight of the last day we got an email through from them saying they'd love to have me.

By this time I'd resolved to go on Latin Link which seemed like a far better option. I'd always wanted to go to S.America and it'd be with a team not on my own. But really I had no choice, if this was God calling me to Jamaica, I couldn't call myself a Christian and not follow his will.

So I went and it didn't work out. Which doesn't fit very well with the easy view of God's will. But since getting back I've found a good number of people who have been in a place where its not homesickness, its a complete and utter helplessness where you're not doing anything and you feel so rubbish and bored and just want to get out of your current situation that nothing else is an option.

Then it can be bad when we leave and it feels like failure and people say things like "Couldn't you have stuck in there for a few more weeks just to see if it worked out?" and you think "maybe" but know that actually, there was no way you could have chosen to stay there another day.

Since coming back, I have seen God's plan for my life unfold massively. I'd never have been able to go back to Liverpool if i hadn't gone to Jamaica first, nor would i have got this job if i hadn't gone back to Liverpool, so I wouldn't be in my great friendship group and great church and learning loads in a great job.

I suppose my point is not to give up at the first sign of trouble but not to fear supposed 'failure'. God works all things for the good of those who love Him, not just the cool things but the bad things aswell. I learnt so much in my hard month in Jamaica, I prayed more and read my bible more than I've ever done, I was broken a thousand times and more and I followed God's will both when it was clear and when it wasn't. I even heard that the Kidz Klub I set up is still going.

He's really really sovereign and so much bigger than my plans or my pride.

Opinions

2009-03-28T12:16:00.000-07:00

I was taking minutes for a meeting yesterday in the Salvation Army International Headquarters, which is a pretty cool building in the centre of London. I really enjoyed it but what was most exciting was to see the different ways in which some of the people in the meeting worked and how they complemented each other.

One person thought very strategically about structure and practical implications while another focused on community and interpersonal effects. They both reflected on ideas within a spiritual mindscape but channelled it through their own skillsets and understandings.

The most inspiring thing was that instead of conflict it produced a greater outcome. It would have been so easy for them to fall into disagreement but instead, two incredibly gifted and intelligent people humbly took on board the others' views and came up with an improved idea.

These people challenged me to think about how I am with people. I feel like I've learned a lot about opinions over the last few years. Initially I was usually negative and then had to swallow my pride and admit I was wrong (I now actually quite like ska music and even spotify, still not sure about twitter). Now I sit on the fence with everything, rarely taking a side. I think there is a benefit of taking to a strong opinion as long as its filled with humility and a willingness to benefit an outcome not just to prove others wrong.

Liturgy and lives of worship...

2009-03-26T05:04:00.000-07:00

Part of my job is helping plan Church Army's Biennial Society Conference. It's in four weeks and part of me is looking forward to it while the other half is dreading it. I feel I'm gonna have a pretty hectic week but should be a laugh.

I've just been making some meal liturgy cards for the small groups in conference. I was never a fan of liturgy growing up, seeing it as an outdated tradition but although its not my preferred method of worship, I have found it a real blessing on many occasions.

I feel it's a biblical act as well. Deuteronomy 26 has one of the first bits of biblical liturgy where the Jews say, before they offer their sacrifice "My father was a wandering Aramean...". It's a piece of liturgy that they say to remind them of where they come from and how they should treat others in the future.

The Jews had many traditions which they used to keep them refocusing on God. Before meals the Jews would go through intricate rituals to do with washing themselves and washing their utensils to remind them that even something as mundane as eating is actually a holy act of worship. See Matthew 21.

As Rob Bell would say, Everything is Spiritual. We need to see everything we do as a spiritual act. As we eat, we are reminded of God's provision and His gift of life, of sacrifice and of communion and fellowship.

Its very easy to forget that ... some might say grace or a quick prayer, liturgy aswell can be used to stop us from just doing an act without realising its holy nature. Admittedly its also very easy to do the liturgy out of habit but that's the same with all worship styles. In my house we have a competition for best grace before dinner, I'm yet to provide liturgy (not a preferred style in a NFI house) but might give it a try. The challenge makes us think about how we really engage with God as we eat.

Whatever you use, its vital to keep ourselves focused on Christ, remembering minute by minute that our lives are worship. In view of God's mercy, we should be daily offering ourselves a living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.

Being good, how and why.

2009-03-24T06:58:00.000-07:00

One of the elders of my church set me and a few other lads the challenge of writing some sermon outlines from Colossians.

Colossians is a hefty challenge to a church which, to the general observer, is doing pretty well. Paul starts by giving thanks for their love, their faith, their hope, their understanding of God's grace, their part in the gospel. He doesn't just stop there but goes on to say that, for that reason, he hasn't stopped praying for them since the day he heard about them.

The church in Colossae isn't like many of the other churches Paul writes to or prays for. It hasn't messed up big time yet, it hasn't accepted heresy or got apathetic. Paul is intervening early with prayer and advice that he might put them into action.

He prays that they may know God's will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding, he asks for strength so that they might endure with joy.

These are prayers for a people who are about to forge a path forward and its gonna be confusing, hard and long. When we start to live and act for God, one of the classic traps is legalism. Colossians 2 outlines this attitude, the foolishness of it and the negative effects. Its then contrasted against Colossians 3 which is a set of rules??!!?

The key is in the line "Since, then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above." This goes back to his opening paragraph which shows those heavenly topics - grace, truth, hope, faith, love and the gospel. When we act in faith, with a heavenly hope, trusting in Christ, with love etc. it stops our actions from being legalistic and makes them a response to everything God's done. Might expand each of those topics with regards to legalism and grace over the next few blogs....might not.

Mixin it up a little with Gabriel Garcia Marquez

2009-03-23T09:09:00.001-07:00

I realise I''ve been doing some awfully Christian blogs lately so thought I'd do a writer recommendation. I'm reading Leaf Storm by Gabriel Garcia Marquez at the moment which I'm really enjoying but haven't finished so won't mention it much other than to say he started it when he was nineteen. I'm so not ready to be a writer.

Marquez is a Columbian born Nobel prize winner. His books are vibrant and colourful and are just so beautifully written. His themes usually play around the illusion and reality of love and death.

My brother recommended One Hundred Years of Solitude to me a few years ago and I was completely taken by it. It spans the life and times of a family struggling and thriving in a new fictional town called Macondo(also where Leaf Storm is set). Its an incredible book covering seven generations yet letting you feel intimately involved with every character.

There's someting about really good books, the epics, that just makes your heart strain a little.

I can't explain it without sounding really overdramatic but it makes you wish they were true or that you were there or that the whole world understood the emotions that you were being made to feel. Its a weird thing which I get when I see really beautiful scenery or when I'm walking with music on and I want everyone to be a part of it but really knowing that even that wouldn't satisfy the strain in my chest. Ah, can't explain but whatever it is, Marquez does it.

You could also try Love in The Time of Cholera or any of his short story books.

A near revival, Stirring as we pray and seek

2009-03-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

I see a generation
Rising up to take their place
With selfless faith
With selfless faith

I see a near revival
Stirring as we pray and seek
We're on our knees
We're on our knees

In church today, we sang this song (Hosanna by Hillsong United) which is quickly becoming another overplayed tune in Churches across Britain. It's such a good tune but also a prophetic voice to our generation. I felt challenged to respond to this today and so after church we sent some guys to Morrissons to get some lunch for the crew and we continued to worship and let the Holy Spirit minister to us.

It was such a valuable time, asking God to challenge us to seek revival, in ourselves and in London.

We also responded to the sermon, which was the last in the Ephesians series. We were reminded that were taking part in Spiritual warfare, that we have to wear the full armour of God. We also acknowledged that the victory had been won, that the lamb was on the throne and that we had to live in that victory in the way we face fear, sin, apathy, suffering and the powers of darkness.

Really?!? a linen wedding dress?

2009-03-21T03:19:00.000-07:00

3 linen posts, you lucky lucky things!!!

Roll up Revelation 19,

verses 6- 8 refer to the church, the bride who has made herself ready. She shall be arrayed in fine linen, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.

I remember being told once that the book of Revelation was written by a tenth century monk on acid. I have absolutely no idea why that person believed it but they believed it whole heartedly.

Revelation's supposed random imagery is such an amazing thing, it ties in with all of scripture, strong references to Zecharaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, the Pentateuch and most other books of the bible. It also confronts its own contemporary issues concerning the Roman emperors (Domitian and Titus) and Christian oppression of that time. It also uses its imagery to give us a glimpse into the future of God's kingdom and people.

So when I read a little snippet like "the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints" I go nuts cos its not simply a passage that tells us what we're gonna be wearing in heaven (please not linen) its a reference to the ancient priesthood, its the sign of what Jesus has done to make us righteous.

More than anything else, it is little lines about linen and lambs that make me believe the bible is the word of God. When the priests wore linen they could go into the holy of holies, now because God accepted Jesus' offering we are now clothed in fine linen and we can enter into the courts of the King. That's absolutely amazing, I love God's word and I really love his actions.

There's also an angel in linen in Daniel 10 if your interested.

Linen 2: The Linen Man

2009-03-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

All this Linen stuff was from a guy called Jonty at a conference I went to a thousand years ago called Contagious but its properly stuck with me cos I found it so exciting.

Ezekiel 9, The city is in moral ruins, God calls for the city guards to come carrying weapons. With the guards comes a man with a writing kit drssed in linen. The soldier/linen man team get a briefing.

The linen man is to go through the city of Jerusalem with his little writing kit and place a mark on the forehead of every person who grieve and lament over the detestable things that are done in it. The soldiers are told to kill everyone who does not bear the mark and I mean everyone, old guys, bibbys, the lot and they can't show compassion or pity to anyone.

Ezekiel is devastated but God reminds him that this is the just rewards for the idolatery of the people.

The linen man returns from going through the city and simply says "I have done as you commanded".

The linen man who marks those who have turned away from sin with a mark of salvation. The man who walks between the soldiers (the wrath of God) and the people. He's such a random insert into this text. He's not mentioned before or after, he just rocks up in his snazzy linen outfit and then heads off.

I wonder who He is?

Linen, wooo!!!!

2009-03-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

Get Excited, it's a blog post on Linen!

Leviticus 1 and 6, When someone sinned they would give a burnt offering to the priests who would have to put it on an altar inside the tabernacle to burn up. When the priest had done this, he would have to put on a linen robe and some linen underwear (nice) and go and take the ashes off the altar.

He'd then take off the linen robes and get changed into some others and then go and dispose of the ashes. If you were the person who'd sinned, you'd be standing outside the altar and your first sign of whether or not your sacrifice had been accepted would be when you see these linen robes handed out and piled up outside the tabernacle.

How much of a relief to know your sins were forgiven and that you and God were okay again, with the sight of those robes.

Fast forward, Jesus had died on the cross. He had been offered as a sacrifice. Three days later, the disciples turn up at what bible translators always call the empty tomb (which is a silly name for a tomb which has something in it).

John 20, the writer is very interested in the linen. It says that the other disciple arrived and saw the strips of linen but didn't go in, then Peter saw the strips of linen and went in and then the other disciple came in, saw and believed.

Generally we take this to mean, that they saw that Jesus wasn't there and believed that he had risen but actually the next line says they still did not understand from scripture that Jesus has to rise from the dead. They saw the linen and realised their sins were forgiven. They believed that the sacrifice had been accepted.

So Linen is an incredible sign of acceptance from the Lord.

But that doesn't give people an excuse to wear linen shirts. God may accept it but society just thinks your weird.

Biblical Themes

2009-03-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

Biblical themes are awesome, imagery that God chooses to use throughout his word such as the lamb or certain numbers and of course…linen. These things prove the consistent integrity of the bible and also give us glimpses into the unchanging nature of God. Par Example, when we see the many redemption stories in the old testament and new then we better understand God's overall redemptive meta narrative.

There's shedloads of themes and imagery in the bible and I really enjoy it (might be part of the Literature enthusaist in me). I'm not even gonna get started on Revelation as there's just so much significance in every reference, every number, every animal, every character.

These all need to be interpreted both in the spiritual climate of the day and the political climate while taking into account the eternal spiritual references and the scriptural references. Things like the principle of first mention and the way that words have different weights when you use them in their original language, s'all good.

Saviour King

2009-03-19T15:24:00.001-07:00

And now the weak say I have strength
By the spirit of power that raised Christ from the dead
And now the poor stand and confess
That my portion is Him and I'm more than blessed

Let now our hearts burn with a flame
A fire consuming all for your Son's holy name
And with the heavens we declare
You are our king

We love you Lord, we worship you
You are our God, you alone are good

You asked your Son to carry this
The heavy cross our weight of sin

I love you Lord, I worship you
Hope which was lost, now stands renewed
I give my life to honor this
The love of Christ, the savior king

Let now your church shine as the bride
That you soar in your heart as you offered up your life
Let now the lost be welcomed home
By the saved and redeemed those adopted as your own

I give my life to honor this
The love of Christ, the savior king

A's, G's. L's and B's

2009-03-18T17:10:00.000-07:00

I sent a letter today addressed 'to the believers in South Wales' (i.e. some of my mates in Cardiff and Swansea). I absolutely love writing letters, its such a nicer way of communicating. You can take some time to think about things or just scribble a few notes but whatever it is, the effort of writing something, getting an envelope, a stamp and actually posting it shows gives so much more integrity to the things you say than a spur of the moment email or whatever.

I've been reading alot of the Epistles lately and am finding them so inspiring. The language is some of the most beautiful in the bible and the wisdom is captivating and challenging. What always gets me is the relationship Paul has with the churches he sends these to and how much love and honesty he fills his words with. I'd love to be able to write stuff which gives people in dark places hope, spurs people on, inspires people.

The prison letters, Colossians, Philemon, Ephesians and Phillipians are filled with the movement of the gospel and the beauty and majesty of Christ. Paul is just so unphased even as he is in chains or under house arrest. He's filled with such joy and with such a recognition of Christ as his all in all.

The letters to Timothy and Titus with their encouragement and advice are incredible as we forge in this modern world how we do church and life in general. I just get so much out of them.

The letters to Corinth challenge sin, misguidance and so many problems aswell as working on Paul's own relationship with the church in Corinth. Its full of important lessons about how we treat people (often struggling) in authority, our brothers and sisters in Christ and those outside the church.

And Romans and John's letters in Revelation, I love em, amazing. I won't even get started.

Every single letter, even those little ones at the back, chock a block with soundbite profundity and insight into God's heart and character.

I, Mike, type this greeting with my own hands. These words are mine and not the Lord's. Grace and Peace to you in the name of Lord Jesus. Peace to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.

The Barber of Sidcup

2009-03-16T15:19:00.000-07:00

Normally, cos I'm cheap, i like to just shave my head when it gets into the thick, wild and unruly mess it was in today. It invariably looks ridiculous, large chunks out of some areas, long hair in other parts. Lacking clippers or the desire to stand over a bin in the back garden lopping at my head, I visited the barber.

He was a legend, while he had fun cutting away at me, we discussed life, love and the world in general. He guessed I was Welsh and talked about when he visited Glamorgan in 1986. He said how he'd travelled most of the world. He spoke six different languages. I heard him speak Arabic on the phone but couldn't guess where he was from. He told me he was a great chef and had run restaurants. A few times, he said "but its not what you know, its who you know"

All in all, he seemed a bit down to be running a barbershop in Sidcup. He mentioned that in Sidcup "There are six barbershops, a hundred charity shops but nowhere for a man to buy a pair of shoes". I personally took it as a profound metaphor for the failing dignity of mankind in a consumerist society. He could've just been seeking a bit of variety.

He mentioned that once you have a wife and kids you can't travel anymore and how he used to go everywhere and do all sorts and now there is just no time.

I imagine he'd lived a pretty awesome life but there was a hint of sadness in a lot of things he said. I felt really moved by chatting to him. He was a damn good barber too. When I paid he did a half bow and said thank you and I felt really bad that someone as talented and with so much experience was serving me.

It was really nice to take a bit of time out from my normal day to day and to just listen to someone else's life and experiences. Luckily my hair generally grows back overnight so i can probably go back tomorrow and continue the conversation.

Grace all the way...

2009-03-15T17:32:00.000-07:00

Sunday, as I think it should be, is often the most challenging day of my week. Church was really good this morning, had a really hard hitting sermon on Ephesians about repenting from any and all sin. I think we need these messages to remind us the massive negative effect of sin. It confronted the need for constant repentance - constant turning away and fleeing from sin. Casting off the old self and putting on Christ.

Emerge (Church's students and 20's meeting) in the evening was a really good time together in worship and fellowship. Watched a Rob Bell, Nooma, clip about how God doesn't just want our empty rituals and our church attendance and our tidy appearance but how he wants our hearts.

I felt really convicted by how often I've gone into worship with a hard, tired, hollow heart. One of the hardest but most amazing things about living a Christian life is that its more than just not sinning, but actually doing the right thing, with the right heart and mindset all the time.

The talk was on sanctification and I've noticed that when we talk of God making us holy, it is simply and avoidance of sin and rarely the challenge of being actively holy. We're being made like Jesus, not some still stuffed dummy that never moves and so never sins. Holiness isn't neutrality, its infinitely positive...

...and thats hard but we're on our way

and what's amazing is that its all God's grace, not just sanctifying us half away until we've sorted out our sin but its grace in every time we make a right choice and do a right action. All of our gifts are gifts of God's grace. It is God's grace that fits us into his divine plan for this world. Every time we speak truth well, every time we evangelise, lead worship, remember our quiet time, pray, read our bible, its grace. Its grace that turns our life mission to glorify God instead of ourselves. mmmmm, grace, grace, grace!

Jack Bauer of all trades...

2009-03-14T07:09:00.000-07:00

I just finished watching series 2 of the TV series, 24. Its taken me like a year to find time to watch the whole thing but its absolutely amazing. After stopping a world war, killing a couple of hundred people, torturing people, being tortured (extensively), foiling a couple of terrorist plots and a few government ones, usurping a bit of authority, surviving a nuclear bomb from a few hundred feet away and just all round being a bit of a hero, Jack Bauer has a heart attack.

In all fairness to him, I had a small heart attack just watching it all.

I'm now listening to The Isley Brothers album 3+3 which is a great morning album for some reason (I realise its half 2 but its Saturday). The guitarist, Ernie Isley, who is incredible, was only seventeen when he played with the band. How horrible is that, he was a word class guitarist when he was younger than I am now.

I've always tried to be a jack of all trades, bit of music, bit of sports, bit of drama, bit of art etc. but yet the incredible people in the world are the ones that excel at something. They may have one cause which they champion or one skill they perfect. I wonder if there's one thing I'm meant to go for or how long i can stay with my fingers in all the pies. mmmm. Pie.

Sanka... you dead?

2009-03-10T06:05:00.000-07:00

Cool Runnings is a kickass film. I've managed to glean one of the most valuable lessons I've ever learned from it. Before the big race, Derice, the main guy, asks Irv, the coach, why he cheated all those years ago to win the gold medal and Irv tells him about his past consuming desire to win and then says the line:

"Derice, a gold medal is a wonderful thing. But if you're not enough without one, you'll never be enough *with* one."

I think this stretches to alot more things and i think even Christians face the problem of trying to find ourselves in external things. If we can just get this job, this relationship, this status and responsibility then we'll be complete. These things can all be amazing but they won't satisfy.

My church ahs been doing a series called "Identity in Christ" and I strongly believe that if we truly know our identity as a saved and redeemed people, filled with the Holy Spirit, covered wholly by grace and made alive in Christ then everything else becomes an incredible bonus and not a demanding necessity.

Square Mile

2009-03-05T13:10:00.001-08:00

Two posts in a day, you are lucky!

I went to the Evangelical Alliance's 'Square Mile' project launch today. The catchline was "If your church ceased to exist, would your community notice" The Square Mile title is about encouraging each church to take care of the square mile around it.

M.ercy

I.nfluence

L.ife Discipleship

E.vangelism

These four things should be integral to the mission of the church, we can't just pick one or two. All of them are vital.

The launch itself was good, Tim Hughes led worship and the new director of EA, Steve Clifford, was interviewed plus a few clips from the new resource that EA are offering the church to equip them for mission.

These sort of events are okay but they're mainly networking things and if you speak to anyone they're constantly looking over your head to the more important person behind you. So much for "the first will be last", lol. It was nicer than being in the office and I just chatted to the few people I'd met before and one of the elders from my church who's on the council. 65 unread messages when I got back and a whole pile of work on my desk.

www.evangelicalalliance.org.uk/squaremile

Where to?

2009-03-05T12:55:00.000-08:00

Decisions... I absolutely hate decisions.

I have to decide where I'm going to Uni next year and my mind slides back and forward with emotions, with what i perceive as where God would want me, with every bit of advice I get.

I don't feel much conviction for either Greenwich or Cardiff. In Greenwich I have a church I love and a wide group of friends, I'd be near London and more opportunities. Cardiff would offer a better student experience, a better degree, plenty of opportunities to serve in youthwork in the valleys and a big CU to get involved with plus old friends.

But its not just Pro's and Con's, its me.

I'm not sure if I even want the classic student experience but then maybe I'd regret not having it!

Maybe I'm not supposed to be going for the best uni so I don't rely on my own academical ability but on God's guidance or maybe I'm supposed to be putting my academical ability to best use to maximise my potential and work hard for the Kingdom.

Do I stay near London to be 'near the action' or do I go to Cardiff so I'm not tempted by seeking my own glory even in a Christian world.

I really have no preference either way but I can't make a decision without feeling like I'd miss out on alot of i chose one and not the other.

I want to do God's will and all this other stuff doesn't matter at all

This is my confusion and so I pray and listen intently to the silence...

Evangelism... or not

2009-02-28T10:30:00.000-08:00

I caught a coach back to the glorious homeland today, back to the beautiful Wales and the nation's capital: Abergavenny (or Aber-G) as its fondly referred to.

It's so good to be back, just for a couple of days to hear the dulcet valleys accent. S'well lush.

At the coach station I sat down next to an old lady with another lad on her other side. I started chatting to the lady cos she looked a bit confused about her phone and managed to help her a little but I was reading and had my music in and so didn't speak for very long.

A few minutes later I realised the lad on the other side was reading a book on Calvin. I chuckled quietly to myself (see last post) and leant over and asked what he was reading and we spoke for some time, sharing testimonies and speaking about gifts or something. Unsurprisingly (being young, pretty cool and yet interested in Jean Calvin) he was a new frontiers lad and so we had stuff in common and conversation was quite easy.

That's all quite cool but I realised as we parted and caught different coaches that I talk about how important evangelism is and yet I spent my time in that coach station talking to what could've possibly been the only other Christian. I did this right over the top of the old lady who could desperately have needed to hear the gospel or at least see a good witness of a Christian.

I'm not gonna beat myself up over it but its worrying how easy I slip and stay in my Christian comfort zone.

P.S. If anyone linking from the New Frontiers blogger site knows Ben Harrelson from King's church, Say 'Hi'. I can't add him on facebook cos I've given it up for Lent, lol.

P.P.S. The picture is of my brother and friends doing a three course mad hatters tea party on the three peaks of Abergavenny (this is the starter on the Blorenge overlooking Aber G and the Sugar Loaf)

I think my wife's a Calvinist!

2009-02-25T14:49:00.000-08:00

This guy empathises with my bewilderment in the New Frontiers Reformed Calvinist subculture. My fellow NCC Blogger, Chris "If Mark Driscoll says it, you know its true" Smyth has also posted this, I think he empathises with the wife.

Style! Matthew 11:17

2009-02-24T01:58:00.000-08:00

One of the great things I love about Christianity is the diversity of styles in every aspect of it. It's always a worry when people feel that their style of worship, evangelism, fellowship, etc is the only right or true style. I feel I've been blessed by quite an eclectic mix of church experiences from the hardcore charismatic to extreme liturgy.

I go along to a CU in one of the nearby Universities and it was brilliant last week to have some guys from a different church to lead the music in a completely different style to what I'm used to. I absolutely loved it, even as the singer started in a different key to the music and we battled awkwardly though the first verse. Was great and challenged me how I'd let myself see C.C.M and guitar led worship as the standard and best way.

Evangelism is another thing with hundred's of style's and techniques for communicating the same message. Jesus compares his own ministry and John the Baptist's before him.

"But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, "'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.'

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'"

People can spend so much time criticising style and technique and all that really matters is that we are faithful to God and willing to follow his will. It's a tough thing to strike the balance between being relevant to a generation and yet not simplly about pleasing it or just simply doing what makes logical sense.

I've always said that we need to do church smarter and have been happy to learn stuff from the secular world but Colossians 2:8 says "See to it that no-one takes you captive through hollow philosophy which depends on human traditions and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ"

Our Spiritual wisdom can ignore the basic principles of the world because we exist in a spiritual world with Christ in us and throughout the world. That's absolutely mental! I have no idea how to put that into practice. lol.

I struggled with the liturgy and old school British style in Jamaica cos I felt it was something that didn't reflect the culture and character of the people. I may be wrong in that but I think we need to worship in which ever way connects us with God but be open and encouraging to all other styles. But to not include the basic principles of this world in my philosophy, my evangelism, my leadership, in speaking or whatnot, that's awesomely crazy.

Google Car Hits Deer!

2009-02-20T03:40:00.000-08:00

http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/01/29/google-maps-car-hits-a-deer-records-it-all

I have absolutely no deep spiritual metaphors for this, it just made me laugh.

Google pours out the full extent of its awesome global wrath on a passing deer.

The google streetmapping car knocked over the deer and recorded the event, lol.

Pretty nuts that they're mapping the world so intricately, how long till they have the inside of my house or even my head mapped in intimate detail. Google analytics and things like that are a little scary but I don't know what the right response would be even if I had the power to enact it.

Any ideas, world?

Death or Glory!

2009-02-18T07:46:00.000-08:00

I played a game yesterday which I haven't had a go at in years. Age of Empires II is a big World domination, strategy game. The aim is to conquer the world by destroying all your enemies using diplomacy, military might or any other means.

I am absolutely rubbish at it.

My natural technique is to defend for ages and try and get my nation as big as possible before making an army, exploring the map and fighting my enemies. This doesn't work, whilst your building up enough stores of food and weaponry, you get attacked by a couple of small armies who embarrassingly quickly demolish your defenses, your villagers, your stores and your town centre. For a while you feel very confident with your watchtowers and a couple of soldiers placed here and there but it's soon turned to rubble.

It feels much riskier stepping out and attacking while the other armies are still being formed. Obviously you leave your town centre vulnerable, you could well be taken unawares and lose it. But how much better to take a shot at winning than just dwindling away slowly.

Christians and the local church need to have the faith to take some risks. Even big churches cos the best of empires can crumble.

A church that takes no risks can hang on for a long time but it's life seems hollow and it's death inevitable.

I really feel it is in risks that we give room for God to move and they're scary but so much more exciting than sitting in our castle, reinforcing the walls. This is why Church Planting and Evangelism has such an air of excitement because its the adrenaline rush of being outside of our kingdom of comfort and into the kingdom of God.

Who will deliver me from this body of death? Cheer up Paul!

2009-02-17T05:25:00.000-08:00

I have just had a cracking weekend taking away the youth from our church to a retreat centre(and, of course, bringing them back) . It was a weekend full of worship, teaching, friendship and also managed to cram in a barbecue, a bonfire in the snow, an assault course, a talent show, two rugby matches (c'mon Wales!), a wide game and a few hours sleep.

Admittedly the lack of sleep was not due to rowdy teenagers, who were actually in bed quicker than the leaders, but because it was absolutely freezing. We were in wooden cabins which had tiny radiators that ran on tokens. The heating lasted about half an hour into the first night, long enough for me to turn to one of my room mates and snidely comment "What, your cold?"

Shivering around two in the morning, not having slept, I put on the last of my clothes and even push my rucksack (which had previously been used as my pillow) into the thin sleeping bag with me to try and get warm. I remember weakly muttering to myself "I'm soooo cold"

I am faced with a dilemma...

Do I get out of bed and put in the radiator token, meaning in an hour I'll get some sleep or do I stay here, cold, tired and uncomfortable, rendering me almost useless for the rest of the weekend. Seems an obvious choice but yet I lay there, all night, so cold. lol.

This morning I had to try so hard to get out of bed for morning prayers with my housemates. I absolutely love it once I'm up, we get into our bibles, give our day over to God and are blessed by it but when I'm in bed, its sooooo difficult to motivate myself.

Let's see what Paul thinks on the subject:

"Did that which is good, then, bring death to me?

By no means!

It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
For I do not understand my own actions.
For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.
So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.
For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.

For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

um...okay....YEAH PAUL! I know what you mean.

Spiritual Entrepeneurs

2009-02-10T12:23:00.000-08:00

Growing up in the church has its advantages and disadvantages.

I know how to 'do' church. I know how to sound really spiritual and holy and good. I know the words to say and the things to do to get by.

And this isn't necessarily bad because actually I'm trying to be good and holy and spiritual but it worries me that there may be so much more on offer.

I feel like I have the option of becoming a leader by doing talks to a bunch of Christians with some hollow rhetoric, impressing by building up impressive networks with all the other cool young leaders, I can try and make myself popular with big leaders so that I'm more likely to get chosen for leadership roles. What would be the point though? I don't want to become a Christian that does all the right things to make myself important and powerful and then isolates himself from the world.

I heard that the church requires Spiritual Entrepeneurs to challenge it into the next generation. Young leaders who try new things, who take risks rather than playing it safe into comfortable leadership roles. I don't just want to break the stereotypes that the outside world has of the church but break the limited stereotype the church has of itself.

In the last blogpost I talked about Judgmentalism and in the book i was reading it suggested that our judgmental attitudes can come out of a place of posturing to other believers. I'd love to be able to shed the worry of what do Christians think of me and care only what God thinks of me. I'm not pointing out the right way here, its just something I've been thinking about lately

The Kettle calling the Pot a racist: JudgMental

2009-02-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned UnChristian quite a few times in this blog because its a great book that positively confronts the negative image that the church is displaying to the world. It offers practical advice that individual Christians and church leaders can use to tackle this image problem in a way that retains our integrity.

I've mentioned some of the chapters before; Hypocritical, Get Saved! and others but the one I'm reading at the moment is chock a block with wisdom. My highlighting hand has been working furiously.

The world thinks Christians are judgmental and for the most part, we are.

Sometimes we sugarcoat it with heartless catchphrases like "Love the sinner, hate the sin" or say that we only come across as judgmental because our lifestyle is so counter cultural, (which it rarely is).

Regardless of our excuse, if people thinking that Christians are judgmental puts them off Jesus then we need to do something about that.

You may think your church is different but the Barna group's research reveals that (at least in America) 75% of church leaders think that their church is a place which loves unconditionally and yet only 45% of Christians would say the same and only about 20% of those outside of the church would agree.

What if we sought to "show grace by finding the good in others and seeing their potential to be Christ followers."

We are not called to judge outside the church, there are so many passages warning people of judging others, encouraging us instead to remember that we are sinners saved only by grace.

Deuteronomy 26:5

Parable of the unforgiving servant

Parable of the woman caught in adultery

This sounds like old teaching but with the revival of reformed theology and a brilliant emphasis on holiness we need to be wary of the arrogance that comes with seeking to be holy. It's worryingly easy to draw links between the attitudes of us evangelicals and the self righteous and unaccepting attitudes of the Pharisees that Jesus was fighting against.

Dave Kinnaman discusses the woman caught in adultery.

"If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw the stone at her" (John 8 v7) .

"Can you imagine the moment when Jesus, in perfect unison with God's plan, broke ranks from centuries of religious teaching within Jewish law and custom? He challenged the accusers to choose compassion over retribution by considering the impurity in their own lives before passing judgment on someone else. And don't forget the end of the story. Jesus, the perfect judge, tells the woman to abandon her self destructive behaviours. "Go and sin no more" he says (v11)" (UnChristian p188-189)

We so often play criticism as our opening gambit, when to be able to lovingly correct someone is something that takes one heck of a strong relationship. It is rare that our motivations are so pure and our characters are so humble that correction sounds anything short of judgment, even among Christians.

AND WHY DO WE WANT TO JUDGE? God gives it to us to show compassion and love and leave the judging up to him, that's a blessing. Why are we so crazy to want to judge, especially with our susceptibility to emotions, stereotypes and just plain stupidity. Let's seek to know our own weaknesses, seek humility and love and out of that alone can we be anything but a blind guide to people on the path to holiness.

We're such idiots...

2009-02-06T08:50:00.001-08:00

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/05/atheist-bus-christian-response

I hate criticising other Christians, I always prefer to see the best but this has really got me down that we could be so foolish and ungodly.

The Russian Orthodox Church, the Trinitarian Bible Society and The Christian Party have released a whole bunch of counter humanist Christian slogans on the buses. Things like "There is definitely a God, join the Christian Party" etc

Why on earth???

I'm so embarrassed, annoyed and gutted that Christians have done this. Everyone could see the Dawkins ads were a waste of money, the 'probably' part of it took away any threat and for a brief few moments we had the moral high ground that we weren't too bothered by it.

Then this...

These new ads won't build the kingdom of God, won't see people saved, won't see God glorified.

We don't need to defend God, He can defend Himself. The world can't throw mud high enough to hit our holy God.

Our reputation on the other hand, is still up for grabs and we need to be people filled with humility, respect and love, a people who have discovered something so amazing that we want everyone to see and feel it ...

... and all these adverts do is make us look like petty idiots trying to convince people to join our club.

This is setting up sides between humanists and Christians and will only end up throwing money at snide, stupid ad campaigns putting down the others. How much more would the kingdom of God have benefited and the integrity of Christians been strengthened if that money had been spent on battling social and spiritual deprivation.

Let us be a people of love, humbly presenting with our words and actions the gospel of a new awesome Kingdom of God.

Mark 5 : Hems of Holiness

2009-02-04T07:24:00.000-08:00

I've got to do a talk on thursday for CU so if your planning to be there, don't read this.

I almost exploded reading the stories of Jesus healing Jairus' daughter and the bleeding lady in Mark 5:21 - 42 because of

Haggai 2 part two.

This is set after the exile, the Israelites are returning and having another go at being God's people. Unfortunately they've messed up their priorities and sin is seeping into their lives at an alarming rate, seperating them from God.

Haggai is looking at the way things are and asking some questions about the system,

"If the ceremonally clean priests carry consecrated meat in the hem of their robes and pop that in a stew does that make the stew clean?"

The answer is obvious for the reader's of the day, its simply "No way, only the meat is holy".

Then Haggai flips it,

"If someone touches an unclean body then does that make them unclean?"

and now its a definite "Yes".

Can we see a problem with this? Sin can spread but holiness can't. At the end of the passage God proposes that he will begin to bless the Israelites.

Roll onto Mark 5: 21, Jesus is on his way to heal a man's daughter. In the midst of a crowd, bodies crushed up against him, he feels an unclean hand reach out in faith and touch the hem of his robe and out of him flows power and healing.

This is the new way of things; Holiness bringing holiness. This is Jesus starting to defeat Sin, the precursor for what he does on the cross. This is seeing the world become holy and life become different. We need to live in this, the constant spreading of holiness as the world is transformed into the Kingdom of God.

After this reference to sin being beaten, we have Jesus raise Jairus' daughter, death's just been taken out too. Cross and Resurrection right there. I love the bible, and Jesus. Come on!

John 2: The Wedding Feast at Cana

2009-02-03T06:51:00.000-08:00

I can't find a good copy of the above painting, probably because its a massive fresco. It sits across from the Mona Lisa in the L'ouvre. This is my favourite painting. It's incredible. Click on it to make it bigger.

A party's raging, people of different classes eating, drinking, being merry. There are animals around, servants working, people swinging from pillars and everything going on and right in the centre Jesus sits...

...staring right out of the painting at me.

His face is slightly illuminated and although you can't really see in this little copy, just above his head some people are chopping meat. The effect when you see it is haunting, the blade coming down on Him, symbolising his eventual sacrifice.

It is here where alot of things start for Jesus, his first miracle, his big moment to begin his public ministry. In the painting, Jesus' face is lit and he looks pretty downcast although he's in the middle of a party. He knows that this miracle, this amazing act will eventually lead to his death.

Jesus knows that as this wine is poured out, it won't be long till his blood is being asked for yet he does it any way. It's weird because hardly anyone is looking at Jesus when normally he's the focal point in paintings. There's all sorts of things going on, music, entertainment and so everyone is missing the significance of what's going on with Jesus. He's living and dying out of love for all these people and yet they see so many other things to focus on.

Where are our eyes drawn to? Christ or everything else?

If you're ever in Paris, lol, check it out!

John

2009-02-03T01:30:00.000-08:00

I decided to make this February a gospel month so I'm hitting the gospels up big time. I started with John and after three days, I haven't got much farther than John 1 .

I like a good novel and the introduction is the hook that sets you up and the start of John is so intriguing and so poetic that it draws you straight into the atmosphere and the drama of whats going on. The Word who is before the world and through whom the world was made, this massive, mighty, glorious power, the light that gives life was "coming into the world."

Then we have John the Baptist paving the way, making straight the path, getting hearts and minds in the right place. John the baptist who's a bit of a hero, dedicated and passionate isn't even worthy to untie the straps on the Word's sandals (Yeah, the power that created the world wears sandals, lol)

And John's good at his job because once Jesus walks up, John sraight away says "Check this guy out, the lamb of God" (paraphrase, lol) and some of John's disciples leave him and go and follow Jesus.

That must have been tough because John's disciples must have seen John, who was obviously from God and did nuts stuff, decided to follow him and live like him. So when Jesus rolled up they must have thought, how can we follow him when we've committed to John and his Godly ways.

When we become Christians or start trying to follow Christ closely, the sinful things in our lives are very quickly highlighted and challenged. Some of the things that we hold onto are the things that the world values and sets as noble and good. There's all sorts of things that can challenge God's position in our lives that aren't directly sinful but get put on pedestals and made that much harder to sacrifice.

Things like music or sport which is given almost an air of spirituality in this culture. Romantic love, if we 'fall in love' with someone then that is seen as something that we cannot sacrifice and that we must submit to rather than to give to God. Family, where obviously its important, Jesus is so much more valuable and deserves more and challenges us that in following him we should hate our father and mother(the context goes a bit deeper but his choice of words challenges us for a reason).

These are all supposedly noble and good things but really, they're nothing compared to Jesus and should be recognised as profane and basic compared the holiness of Christ. On the walk to work today, I had "Turn your eyes towards Jesus" running through my head. Great tune and to get cheese factor high, gonna put the first verse down.

"Turn your eyes towards Jesus,

Look full in his wonderful face

and the things of this world will grow strangely dim

in the light of His glory and grace"

lol, some bloke really enthusiastic about being John the Baptist

To be alone with you...

2009-01-28T16:14:00.001-08:00

Y'kno what sucks, I bet Jesus wanted to meet a nice girl and get married, he probably wanted kids. He probably thought about pursuing his hobbies into careers, he only lived 33 years, there was so much more he could have seen, what if he'd wanted to travel or run a business or invent something.

I mean he found fulfillment in the Father's will which is ultimate contentment but I bet there was a girl or two he'd pictured getting married to. I still reckon it felt like sacrifice, I still reckon it felt so hard. Jesus could've got married and had kids and still have gone to the cross (don't quote me on that) but loved people so much that knowing that he was to die, he probably wouldn't want to leave a widow or a child. Such selflessness and sacrifice both in his life and death.

Absolutely nuts, soooo difficult to copy that and to know whether or not I'd actually be willing to sacrifice my desires and dreams for God's will. It's unlikely that God's gonna ask me to be a monk or whatever but what if He asked me to go back to Jamaica for five years, heck, twenty years? I honestly couldn't think of much worse, that'd be such a wrestle, I think I'd do it but it makes me feel ill considering moving back there, the boredom, no social life. I realise that that's completely hypothetical but it'd be such a difficult thing and thats what Jesus did, gave up so much for such a gain for us.

What a God...

Websites for those as bored me!!!

2009-01-28T08:54:00.000-08:00

Find the right Meerkat for you!
www.comparethemeerkat.com

The Onion: America's Finest Newspaper
Check out the video about Apple
www.theonion.com

Find out more about the organisation I work for (you must be getting really bored if your considering this)
www.churcharmy.org.uk

I thought I'd have a few more when I started this list, Really I just wanted people to look at the funny meerkat website. Sorry

What should I be when I grow up?

2009-01-26T03:17:00.000-08:00

I'm kind of bored of asking this question by now cos I just don't know.

I've been to Butlins in Bognor Regis for the second time in a week, but this time to New Frontiers London conference. It was a pretty good weekend and a guy called Dave Stroud spoke twice on the saturday and laid down some challenges and some pretty interesting teaching.

At one point he talked about revival, how real revival is more than just the church kicking off and growing and whatnot but actually society transforming.

When the 1904 Welsh Revival burned across Wales, the pubs emptied, the environment changed.

His point was that, in real revival we'll start seeing transformation in every sector, our media, our business world, our cultural output.

It mainly struck me when he said we'll need "Teachers, Journalists, people working in newspapers" . Mainly the career prospects I'd thought of other than a full time ministry post.

Unfortunately Dave Stroud's other talk was on Church Planting. Normally I've viewed Church Planting as something I'd love to do but haven't really considered it because I questioned my reasoning for it. Dave Stroud's talk pointed at the real need for Church plants and the New Frontiers aim to have four hundred plants in the next few years.

So, what do I want to be when I grow up? what does God want me to be when I grow up?

No idea, as of yet.

Littlehampton

2009-01-21T14:46:00.000-08:00

I've just returned from my first of two trips to Butlins in Bognor Regis this week. The guy who I'm PA to, Mark, was speaking there today so we travelled down by car yesterday. We stopped off in a town called Littlehampton for dinner. Littlehampton, I was told, was the birthplace of Delirious? but generally appeared to be a bizarre, backwards, possibly inbred, little town. We avoided the first pub which appeared to still be celebrating Christmas and couldn't really get into the next one for all the Great British memorabilia. Finally we found a Wetherspoon's which seemed normal enough until we met the occupants...

... I feel you can judge the strangeness of a crowd by the level of facial hair it has and these guys (and some ladies, I think) were a damn scary, hairy bunch.

The best line we heard in the pub was when a bloke speaking to his friend in a thick undefinable accent, asked “Who's that lad who's just become president?” lol

I'd found a live feed of the inauguration build up and then caught the ceremony and speech on the way down yesterday. I really enjoyed it, not gonna bother sharing much of an opinion in the throng of praise and criticism that's already out there but it made good listening.

Anywho, if your in Littlehampton, try the Steak!

Laffit

2009-01-18T15:30:00.000-08:00

Imagine being there on the seventh day, the day God blessed and called Holy. Imagine the sun rising, its appearance still rare and unexpected having only tread it's path a few times. Dazzling, exciting, illuminating the world, shedding light on the new creations.

Everything buzzing with energy, calm yet not still. Everything alive. Birds unsure of flight drifting through newly formed skies to find their way to the tallest of the freshly formed trees. Animals lingering lazily, awaiting their first autumn to prompt them to prepare for their first winter.

Time itself has just been set, the clock wound up and released. Water makes its first of many long journeys, down great rivers, headlong into the sea, to the sky and then to begin again.

Imagine having no clue what the future held, experiencing warmth for the first time... and then cold. Imagine finding an animal that you had no concept of but knowing that in everything you found was something holy and representing a creator who was resting right now, a little way off.

Imagine seeing a couple, naive, in love, wandering through all this. Inquisitive, excited, adventurous. Sometimes they run, sometimes they stand, always marveling at it all, breathing in new, fresh, air.

Imagine the sunset, similar in beauty but different to the night before. Colours unseen before highlighting the odd cloud here and there. As the evening draws in, the sound of birdsong turns into the quiet roar of thousands of unnamed insects. The smaller lights in the sky begin appearing, scattered across the heavens.

Imagine not being sure that night would follow day. Imagine seeing darkness fall and feeling no fear, only anticipation.

I got a bit carried away there, we still have so much beauty around us, sometimes we can be a bit callous and jaded about it all. Sometimes it feels a bit harder to see it. I sometimes think it would be fun if we just had a random season slipped in every so often, we've categorised our world so much it feels a little boring on times. Most of the time you really can guess what tomorrow will bring.

Let's have 'Laffit', the season where there is such a strong updraught that leaves get blown into the air and hover there for weeks changing colour daily as the sun reflects off them into the water which then appears to be shimmering like tinted glass. It's the season animals learn to dance and take to the streets and aggressively attack anyone who tries to stop them. The leafless trees disrupt roads and rail as they burrow and dig and set up communities underground where they play poker and drink brandy.

But can Laffit, just turn up whenever, unexpectedly, screwing up everyones plans and doing its crazy thing.

Yes, it can, its my made up season and I'm gonna put it in whenever I please.

Memory

2009-01-15T23:54:00.000-08:00

It's 7.55 in the morning, I'm still in bed, and I thought it best that I write this blog post now as my memory is absolutely rubbish.

Contrary to popular belief and the amount of wisdom I really should have gained, I have read my bible quite a bit. Unfortunately, I suffer from the aforementioned memory and so I rarely actually use the information I've read in good situations.

The worst is when, in theological discussion (GEEK), I actually manage to throw an appropriate verse down and not just quote Ezekiel 23:20 in every argument (funny how that one sticks in my mind), BUT then can't remember the verse or reference and so people don't believe me.

WELL, I've found two references which show that Paul had a similar problem, fair enough, his bible didn't have verses but I think he would empathise with me, Hebrews 2:6

But there is a place where someone has testified:

"What is man that you are mindful of him,

the son of man that you care for him?

He's just guessing really, isn't he? and Hebrews 4:4

For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work."

I at least try and make something up, he just admits he doesn't know where he's getting it from. Should've googled it...

Get Saved!

2009-01-15T05:47:00.000-08:00

Another chapter of UnChristian, one of the top ten things young people outside of the church think of Christians is that all they care about is "Getting them saved"; that we are insincere and concerned only with converting others.

The book offers a new perception about what our image should be, that "Christians cultivate relationships and environments where others can be deeply transformed by God"

This means that we don't just try to get people to say the prayer and get them in the club.

Often, in big events like Soul Survivor or just an evangelistic meeting, we get someone along who has no idea what they're letting themselves into. We brainwash them for an hour with loud music and dim lighting and then get them to say a prayer which is supposedly the biggest decision of their lives. We tell them all the pro's about heaven and a relationship with a faithful God but forget to mention all the Con's. We then measure our evangelistic endeavor by saying "Ten people put up their hands and prayed the prayer". I really don't think this is how God sees his relationship with people.

Maybe our view of Saved and Unsaved is a little too narrow. We seem to view "Saved" as a set of beliefs rather than a lifestyle. Instead of just trying to get someone to subscribe to a bunch of beliefs, we should be encouraging them to get to know God and let Him change their lives.

When we offer salvation, "like a beggar telling another where to find food", we need to think what we portray it as. Do we "portray it as an all out, into the kingdom enlistment that dramtically influences all aspects of life."? That's what it is and I think there are plenty of people bored with the ordinary life who will be excited about this challenge...

Emerging on campus

2009-01-11T13:40:00.000-08:00

It's an exciting time for the church I'm in. We've recently moved back to an old building following some prophetic words spoken over the community (Luke 5). The church is also carrying out two meetings back at the old centre. Even two weeks in, these meetings feel awesome. The Holy Spirit is working its way through these meetings bringing prophecies and words through lots of people but also challenging the hearts of people to become more outward focussed.

This evening Emerge, the students and 20's group (neither of which I fit under, lol) from the church went out onto the nearby Avery Hill campus expecting to have a meeting but the building we'd booked was closed. Not to be put off, we met outdoors, right in the centre of campus.

We started with communion...

which I love...

... cos communion is accepting Jesus' sacrifice,

putting our past behind us,

fellowshipping,

realising the cost and accepting the challenge that brings...

...ALL IN A BIT OF BREAD AND (in our case, cos I'm cheap) CRANBERRY JUICE.

Then we worshipped and prayed and spent some time with God, on campus.

Afterwards we went back to the pub and the Emerge leaders shared some prophecies that had been fulfilled and some which were gonna be soon. We also heard a Gospel message restating and reminding us of the massive gap that the cross bridged and what we've been blessed with.

I'm still being challenged by Isaiah 6 and Luke 4, being made clean with the challenge of going out and Jesus' manifesto for preaching good news, releasing captives, returning sight to the blind and proclaiming the year of God's favour.

Happy Face!

2009-01-09T09:36:00.000-08:00

I've somehow got a bit of a slit in the middle of my lip and I've painfully discovered that I smile alot. People in London don't smile as much, I know thats kind of well known but it still sucks. I always try and make an effort to smile at people and its really rare that anyone smiles back or even acknowledges.

The worse thing is, on my way home I walked past some lad who smiled and nodded as he went by and as I tried to respond I ended up just wincing painfully at him. I hope I didn't put him off smiling. It's a better way...

(I fear 2009 hasn't produced many particularly engaging blog posts, I may have to fast from it for a while and wait until I can actually write something worthwhile, we'll see...I mean really. smiling? really? I was bored writing it)

Another music recommendation

2009-01-08T16:37:00.001-08:00

Sean Hayes..

Found him as I searched Itunes randomly clutching my gift card tight.

He has a flowering spade Growing out of his chest Full of magic and healing She is a flowering spade As she moves and she sways You can see that she feels it She's off to dance with the goat boys He's of to sail through your wide open ocean She learned to sing from a siren He learned to swim from a drop in the water There are words there are signs Close your eyes there is magic inside you Hear this box in your mind building frames for to trace your desires She learned to cook from a sailor He learned to cry in an elephant circus She found a recipe for flying He's growing flowers to understand dying Rejoice

Busy times

2009-01-08T16:17:00.000-08:00

Had a busy few days and haven't read any of the hundreds of books i got for Christmas and another one just arrived in the post. The Fine Line which i blogged about a while ago.

On Tuesday, my church had a prayer meeting which was really good, an awesome time of seeking God's will and challenged me to start properly praying about where God wants me to be this next year.

Had work the next day and then travelled up to Derby straight after and had a meeting there on Thursday and back down in time for another prayer meeting in the evening. Been a bit hectic and so I haven't actually spent much time either in prayer or reading.

I always struggle when I commit to doing something daily and then mess up. It's hard to get that balance of religious motivation and spiritual passion. I'm okay at being disciplined when I have routine but it's when that routine's gone that it takes so much more to seek God. It's hard to understand that God's not annoyed that I've not spent time with Him but both of us have missed out on the other's company...

...and I'm pretty sure I'd benefit from it a bit more

The Ongoing Discussion...

2009-01-06T15:19:00.000-08:00

I was trying to describe the type of books I got for Christmas to someone and I was tempted to call them "Pop Theology books" as I felt things like Rob Bell and things in the same vein couldn't be called proper theology books...

...which really shows how warped the way we (or at least I) look at God is. In "Jesus Wants to Save Christians" by Rob Bell, he opens it by saying that Theology comes from the words "Theos" meaning God and "Logos" meaning Word. He concludes that Theology is simply a word about God. Even though he discusses some pretty intelligent stuff in great depth, he makes it ridiculously simple and easy to understand.

We have a weird view in this country that only someone who has read books about God in a classroom for three years has anything to say about Him. I'm not saying Biblical scholarship is bad but it's a bizarre thing when it turns into elitism and creates books that are harder to understand than the bible itself.

It's a bit worrying how much I go on about Rob Bell but I love that he describes Theology as the ongoing discussion about God. We scorn this postmodern culture where everyone brings their opinion to the table and we campaign to get this elusive one take on the bible and the character of God that everyone agrees on. (I think Calvin worked it out but he only spoke French, and the French won't tell anyone)

I believe firmly that we cannot and will not understand God's character fully even with the bible and the things He's told us about Himself and I think even Heaven will be an eternity of learning more about the Eternal one. This means that even though there is an absolute truth about the character of God, we haven't got it yet. We need the ongoing discussion to keep highlighting the extent of God's character, every opinion is valid.

Constantly discovering God is vital to Christian growth. In one of my first sermons I spoke on Romans 12 , "In view of God's mercy, offer yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God". It is as we see God's mercy that we are able to make such a sacrifice. To develop our own character we need to constantly be falling into the loving, just, funny, strong, cool, faithful, random, jealous, passionate, interesting, massive, holy character of Jehovah...

Transparency

2008-12-29T17:13:00.000-08:00

I have a feeling that I'm gonna be doing alot of posts around UnChristian. I was thinking of maybe a post on each chapter but I've just been struck by another part of the Hypocritical one. It's a bit on changing perspectives about Christianity and the Church.

One example was a five week series that was used called "Confessions of a Sinful Church"

Apology 1 - We're sorry for our self righteousness and hypocrisy

Apology 2 - We're sorry for our endorsement of slavery

Apology 3 - We're sorry for our mistreatment of homosexuals

Apology 4 - We're sorry for the Medieval crusades

Apology 5 - We're sorry for saying the Earth is flat

In the book Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, he and some friends set up a confession booth on their campus and when people came in, they would confess on behalf of the church for its many sins and its general misrepresentation of Jesus and God.

UnChristian also mentions how businesses are now becoming more transparent and mentioning their flaws and becoming more 'real' yet the church still tries to keep all its muck and grime under wraps. The Skoda advert shows how it acknowledges its poor image and rubbish old cars rather than trying to pretend that everything's fine, the book gives several more examples.

Although this transparency requires some boundaries and common sense, it is far more desirable than the facade we often put up.

Hypocritical

2008-12-29T05:04:00.000-08:00

I seemed to get a massive amount of books for Christmas this year which was nice but I'm still working through one I got before Christmas and mentioned in an earlier blog. UnChristian is brilliant, I feel really bad cos I've covered most of it in highlighter and underlining. There's definitely a part of me which still feels naughty writing on a book but there's so much wisdom in it I've had to or else I'll never take it all in.

The book is based on a piece of research done in the States about attitudes towards Christianity and the top ten opinions are all negative.

The first of these opinions it confronts is the mostly well justified idea that the church and Christians are hypocritical. Christians say one thing and do another, they care more about their image than their actions. In this, we fit in with culture quite well,

"Our culture considers having a good image to be one of the highest goals in life. Whether its enhancing their myspace identity with that "perfect" photo, playing mind games with their friends, shifting the way people thing about them to gain an advantage, telling white lies to cover themselves, or boosting their credentials on a resume, young people have become adept at shaping their own version of reality"

But obviously that doesn't make it a good thing, in this Christians have an opportunity to stand out. Christians are by definition people who have admitted their sins, why do we then try to cover them back up. We speak of the freedom we found in confession and then stop doing it. We have the opportunity in Christ to be free from constantly trying to impress and enhance our own image, I haven't cracked that at all but its definitely worth thinking about.

I have to recommend the NOOMA video Tomato, its number 22 or something. Absolutely brilliant, I'm not gonna say any of it, I really do want people to watch the free bit of it on iTunes. Even if you don't like Rob Bell, please watch it. It is something that the church could be doing to reshape the image people have of us. Not being hypocritical would be good too.

Quality of Life

2008-12-28T09:27:00.000-08:00

I've just put a hit counter on my blog (yes, that thing in top right hand corner is just a joke) and I'm a little worred about it...

A bit of the bible that's always challenged me in any ministry has been the last chapter in 1 Kings. King David getting on a bit and decides, against the local prophet's advice, to census the whole kingdom. He was, in effect, totting up his life's works.

David had, from the beginning of his life, been a guy blessed by God with success and favour. He was born a shepherd boy and God had selected him to rule Israel. By taking this census, he was taking the glory for the many things God had given him. Counting the men he had to fight with was showing off his own strength rather than acknowledging God's hand in all his victories. God wasn't best pleased and sent out a plague on Israel, one of His favourite countries (up there with Luxembourg and Somalia).

So I get a bit nervous when I start counting any sort of achievement, we made a point when we ran our CU in school to not count how many kids came along (although I'm pretty sure we all did).

I can see the use in counting numbers of people on a practical basis but one of the important lessons in David's life comes just as he starts getting a bit of a mention in the Bible. "Man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart". God doesn't see things the way we do, He doesn't recognise the same signs of what makes someone a success as we do. I'm pretty sure God would be more happy with one quiet act of humble loving praise than a million hollow shouts of worship.

It's really hard to seek quality over quantity in a nation when so many people need the gospel but I think it would be better to look back at my life and see a few people who were profoundly moved by my existence than to have hundreds who knew me but were never effected.

I like to think my blog's a quality experience not a quantity thing... I just want to know how many people are having a quality experience, lol.

What I learned from Playstation this Christmas...

2008-12-27T09:31:00.000-08:00

My eldest brother got a new playstation game for Christmas called 'Farcry 2'. It's a pretty amazing game based in an anonymous African country amidst civil war. There aren't many games set in Africa even though it does seem to be the modern warzone. One of the things that the game captures is the sense of chaos, lawlessness and seeming anarchy of a country being ravaged by two rival political factions.

One of the biggest things in the news over the past year has been the political problems and violence in Zimbabwe. In my work's prayer group one of the members with friends out there received a letter from them and it painted a picture of horror and evil from Mugabe's reign. They were praying that this was the darkness before the dawn with sickening amounts of people being murdered, homes being destroyed and a nationwide feeling of hopelessness.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu recently announced that he would condone armed intervention into the country to remove Mugabe from presidency. That's an incredibly powerful thing for a man in his position to say and shows how extreme the problems in Zimbabwe are. I'm not sure what my opinion on armed intervention is (and I'm incredibly thankful that it's not my decision to make) but one of the things I was challenged by was hearing The Archbishop of York speaking about Zimbabwe at an event. He asked a room full of Christian leaders who prayed regularly about the situation in Zimbabwe.

In a room of a hundred, a couple of hands went up.

It's one of the most horrible situations in the world today and we've all been made aware of it yet we don't commit time to praying about it. I find it hard to pray for big world events like that because there's so many and we don't really think our prayer will have any effect but it's a real kick in the ass when people challenge you like that. We as Christians need to be taking these things to God to show that its something that's on our hearts.

In the face of all the problems we comment on how we feel powerless and yet we have access to Power itself and all we ask is that It'll help us find a parking space. Please pray for Zimbabwe.

Get Behind Me, Santa!

2008-12-22T02:11:00.000-08:00

After my anti consumerism rant in the last post, now I'm going to do a festive Christmas recommendation. Sufjan Stevens' Christmas album, Woo!

Every Christmas, Sufjan and his pals sit around together and remodel some Christmas classics. I'm currently listening to Songs for Christmas and it's so good. Not many days now till I go back to Wales to see friends, family and my dog!

It's weird to think that this time last year, I was planning to spend six months in Jamaica and then go to Liverpool University. Instead I spent one month in Jamaica, five in Liverpool and now I live in London! When you say "I'm going to do this, God willing" , that's not just a throwaway comment, that also means, "I might not do this God willing". I like to think I've been faithful to God's call this year and everything's turned out pretty peachy but I still spend time worrying about what I'm supposed to be doing next year and the year after and the many years after that.

One of Jesus' simplest and regularly quoted teachings is simply don't worry about tomorrow, you've got enough to think about today.

I look forward to going home, and coming back, and next year and whatever comes next, as Captain Phil often quotes "Life's an adventure, not a worry" (I think he got it off a t-shirt)

Christmas: Sponsored by Coke

2008-12-19T02:38:00.000-08:00

Christmas is so not a religious festival anymore, its just not. There's a few things Christians should fight for but I think we've lost Christmas. I watched 'Fred Claus' the other day and I'm pretty sure it was implying that Santa invented Christmas. lol.

The world is so much better at doing Christmas than Christians are. They start advertising in July on TV, on radio, in shops and everywhere. They get the kids to guilt trip the parents, they get the parents to compete against each other. We're told we need things to make our lives better and we believe it. I feel like such a sucker over Christmas when I've bought a load of presents nobody really wants and eaten a whole load of food that just makes me sick but how on earth can I do anything else when the whole system is challenging us to buy more. Even if you don't want anything because you realise that more stuff won't make you happier then we end up spending more on someone else to give them a load of rubbish they don't want. Crazy innit?

There does seem to be a bit of a realisation on this and there seems to be a few books, articles and just a general acknowledgement (probably due to the credit crunch) that our current system isn't working too well and Christians especially need to be leading the way out of the economic darkness.

One article I found http://www.cjd.org/paper/consum.html offers three virtues to combat the vices of consumerism. Penance, Sabbath and Tithing. Stop getting caught up in the spending madness, don't let money be our master and realise that we don't need all the things were told we do.

I feel like something more drastic needs to be done but these (revolutionary and subversive) less obvious tactics may be the way forward. Rather than a sudden explosion of changed minds, popular opinion could go through social cryptoamnesia (look it up, lol). The increase in fair trade stuff and ethical options is a positive sign and I hope that Christians, not given over to this culture are laying the path to freedom.

Communion...

2008-12-17T10:03:00.001-08:00

Let us break bread together on our knees

When i fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun

Ooh Lord, have mercy on me.

I absolutely love the Lord's feast, sitting round, sharing a meal with brothers and sisters in the presence of God. I also love communion services, when we silently and humbly eat the bread and drink the wine, pouring out reverence and respect to the Holy of Holies.

It always challenges me to renew my commitment to God, to remember why and how we do everything we do. As we acknowledge the sacrifice, it gives us a shot of perspective we so desperately need all the time.

It's an awesome time of soaking in the spirit of God, feeling His love.

Gathering of Younger Influential Leaders...

2008-12-12T11:34:00.000-08:00

I've spent the last two days in Warwick University with a bunch of leaders, mainly from para church groups, from all over the country. A guy named Dave Kinnaman from a research group in America called the Barna group was sharing some stats that they'd discovered. Most of it was highlighting the negative image that people outside the church have about Christians. Words like 'hypocritical' 'judgmental', 'antihomosexual' and worse. One of the striking things is that image is way more like the image of the pharisees than of the disciples.

It was a real pleasure and a privilege to be with the group as they talked about the problems, but more enthusiastically, the possible solutions that the church has to undertake to start reaching this widely unchurched nation.

One of the catchlines of the two days seemed to be “Small is the new big”. We need a new way of reaching this generation because we have been widely unsuccessful so far. A statistic that was thrown out was that Rick Warren's “Purpose Driven Life” sold like four million copies or something and yet even being an incredible bestseller, it hasn't brought about the massive change that is needed. Big events like Soul Survivor do amazing things and encourage Christians and see lots of young people come to faith but that needs to be backed up by the local church. When young people return they need to be encouraged, equipped and enabled. Small is the new big puts the responsibility of the kingdom of God in every Christians lap. We need movements in every arena of life, every subculture needs to have the salt and light of a passionate Christian in its midst.

Some of the things highlighted was a need to be and raise up Spiritual Entrepeneurs – people who are willing to take risks in ministry,innovators and pioneers. This includes giving responsibility to young leaders and to be doing new or refurbished ministries to meet the needs of this generation and share the gospel with them.

We need to stop making empires, we've tried that and its not working. We need to do small things well but this requires a whole generation of good leaders to carry it out on the small scale. We haven't got them yet but maybe a time is coming where you don't need three years of theological training to work for the kingdom.

He who dares...WINS!!!

2008-12-10T15:45:00.000-08:00

Tonight has been awesome!!! (yes, three exclamation marks, I know) I caught a bus to Eltham carrying my guitar to go to FolkMob. In this cool, dark, old pub, a group of folk enthusiasts, musicians, old and young, meet every week.

and for a change, I went along too.

The open mic night I was hoping for had been postponed and instead they passed a stick around (probably a pagan ritual, lol) and people took it in turns to play some music, sing a ballad, tell some poetry. Everyone was really good, sometimes people played along or sang the chorus and all in all it was just a nice, completely bizarre, thoroughly different evening. I chucked in the folkiest songs of my repertoire and they seemed to go down pretty well.

It's so easy to fall into patterns and just keep doing the same thing week in, week out, so its awesome just to do something completely random and different. On sunday evening, I turned up at a little church near my house and then went out with their older youth group and leader and ended up playing Jenga with a group of new friends at some random's house.

Doing new stuff with new people keeps you growing and learning and is really refreshing. I'm really bad at it and it takes so much effort just to actually look something up and try it out but Folkmob was a success so bring on next week's random adventure.

Give up your small ambitions...

2008-12-08T12:50:00.004-08:00

As a Christian I can drive myself nuts asking myself, and asking God "Who am I supposed to be?" and "What am i supposed to be doing?"

When I see lots of inspirational leaders and people with cool successful ministries, I'm very quick to emulate them and try to think how I can do what they did. How many people read Mark Driscoll's first book and then desperately wanted to plant a church? or a commune after reading Irresistible Revolution?or secretly wanted a bit of persecution to struggle through after Heavenly Man

I'm not saying that's bad, these ministries confront our little ideas and wills and show us the scale of God's plans, they inspire us and challenge us. A 16th century missionary to Japan, Frances Xavier, wrote to a British theological college with the words "Tell the students to give up their small ambitions and come East".

I remember someone saying that phrase to me at a camp five years ago and I remember thinking that that was too much to ask, that my ambition to be successful and have my nuclear family was none of God's business.

Five years later and I bet God just laughs at that, now I have no idea where I'm supposed to be and all I know is that it is only God's will that I want to do and I don't even know how to do that and so I latch onto these trendy ministries because God is working through them. I don't feel called to the East but I'm sure if i read Chasing the Dragon again, I'd reconsider.

I think this is why I'm really excited about the bible's teaching on the body of Christ because it teaches me that I have a specific, vital role in God's plan. As do all Christians. My role is not just to copy William Wilberforce or John Wesley or a Moravian or Bill Wilson or Rob Bell but to be the person God wants me to be and be the best me I can be.

It's hard to communicate but I feel like, for someone to want to grow their church to 10,000 people because Mark Driscoll did it, is not bad, but it is a small ambition compared to the specifically tailored plan God has for every one of us.

Books I haven't read...

2008-12-08T08:37:00.000-08:00

There are three books that have got me excited by their mere titles...

Two of them aren't even published:
"Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different" by Tullian Tchividjian

"The Fine Line: Re-envisioning the Gap Between Christ and Culture" by Kary Oberbrunner

They're both out in '09 but one that is released and may soon be on my Christmas list is:

"I Became a Christian and all I got was this Lousy T-Shirt: Replacing Souvenir Religion with Authentic Spiritual Passion" by Vince Antonucci

The last one supposedly challenges the fact that Christianity is its own sub culture and not salt and light in every culture. We have our own music, books, clothing lines, accessories and even celebrities. I have no idea if those things are good or bad (I can see their use) but I'm very conscience that we're supposed to have a massive effect on those around us and make a difference to our surroundings and it doesn't seem to be happening much. I look forward to reading all these books as they may hold some wisdom on how we stand up and stand out in our culture rather than making our own and hiding in it.

Mysteries

2008-12-08T07:53:00.000-08:00

Dropping another two book recommendations:

'The Solitaire Mystery' by Jostein Gaarder is a story set in central Europe about a young boy accompanied by his father (who incidentally collects jokers) on a search to find his estranged mother. On his journey he receives a book containing the stories of two men marooned on an island fifty years apart. The first man, lost in lonesome imagination brings to life a set of playing cards while the other brings about the eventual destruction of the island.

All three stories unfold together and the book is beautifully written throughout. It is jam packed with philosophical questions about life, the soul and much more. One of the living cards, the Joker is described as troublesome because he "sees too deeply and too much" and poses many of the questions that the book confronts. It's a nice, fun book but also holds a heck of alot of deep thought and I enjoyed it.

The other book, in festive spirit is Jostein Gaarder's 'Christmas Mystery', 24 chapters for the 24 days of advent. All the other calendars, full of chocolates and toys are gone and so Joachim settles for the old fashioned looking one that sits on the shelf in the old bookstore next to a picture of a young lady and some rose petals.

Every day he opens a door and out drops a piece of a story about a little girl running backwards through time and across Europe to get to Bethlehem to be there when Jesus is born. Along the way she meets shepherds, angels, kings and all the characters from the nativity story. It's a fun simple story but its beautifully written and a really nice presentation of the Christmas story.

The sum of our parts...

2008-12-07T09:01:00.000-08:00

I was challenged the other day (by Owen of www.owencottom.blogspot.com, lol) to stop thinking what my ministry might be but rather what my 'message' is. One thing I have felt passionate about lately is the body of Christ, made up of lots of little bits coming together to be stronger than the sum of their parts.

Its been a pleasure lately to see some friends who are in strong Christian relationships and seeing how the couple, rather than being distracted by their relationship, grow massively through it. They are more impressive than just two individuals. It's not like people only have a certain amount of love and so have to split it between their partner and God but it's like they love through God and love so much more than they could or did before.

What if the body of Christ loved each of its parts in this way? What if we practiced real agape, self sacrificial love through God? It'd be unbelievable to see.

We all fit into this body of Christ, each of us has a part and Corinthians says that every part is valuable and important. Sometimes it doesn't feel like a body though, we seem to have one leg kicking around over there, an ear over here and all apart and not doing well.

Within both the local and complete church, every member needs to be tied together in Love through Christ. We could look and see that there's no point working with that little church because its too small and has no resources but I feel passionately that Unity is a massive thing which God will bless more than we can understand. I feel there's so much potential in Unity, not always rationally but faithfully.

I know many times when I;m in big worship sessions, I can be thinking about my own situation and have my own specific agenda in worship and prayer. There appears to be something significant about corporate worship if it is united and shares its passion and its mindset. "For where two or three come together in my name, I am there also"

We need to see ourselves as a part in this body, unique and perfectly designed for our role but also moving with the same motivation and will as the whole body and Christ Himself.

The Church as God's Song part 3

2008-12-04T06:53:00.001-08:00

One of the best lines in the first book of the Silmarillion is during the battle of voices in the Ainur's song, it describes the two songs and their interaction.

“One was very great and deep and beautiful, but it was mingled with an unquenchable sorrow, while the other was now grown to unity and a system of its own, but was loud and vain and arrogant, braying triumphantly against the other as it thought to drown it, yet ever, as it essayed to clash most fearsomely, finding itself but in some manner supplementing or harmonizing with its rival.”

Throughout all the world's proud songs and our own failures and sin, God's glory will be shown and all is in His power. Even in our greatest sins we are never outside God's plan and purpose. However messed up this church is looking, even as it fights inwardly and seems to crumble. God will prevail.

The Church as God's Song Part 2

2008-12-04T06:13:00.001-08:00

Another bit of Silmarillion stoyr for ya:

Melkor was the most powerful of the Ainur and knew many of Illuvatar's thoughts.

Whilst the other Ainur interacted and sang together, Melkor would spend his time alone attempting to think 'private thoughts' that he kept from them and even from Illuvatar. In his pride and solitude, Melkor believed he could create music apart from his own creator.

This was all building up to the song of Illuvatar's theme/plan/design. When the Ainur assembled for Illuvatar's theme/plan/ design, Melkor arrived with them.

The choir's song is described as"deep and wide and beautiful but blended with a slow and unmeasurable sorrow, from which its beauty chiefly came". In contrast, Melkor's music was "loud and vain, and endlessly repeated ... and it essayed to drown the other music with the violence of its voice".

The song is split into four parts and Melkor ruins each one until Illuvatar ends it with "one chord, deeper than the Abyss, higher than the Firmament, piercing as the light of the eye of Illuvatar"

Afterwards Illuvatar shows how their song looks, materialised as the Universe. This is the scene for all of Tolkien's books. All the darkness and the depravity that the world suffers because of the proud discordant voice that seeks power and destruction over creation and beauty.

Is the church about beauty and creation, many parts working together or is it about pride and hate and everyone seeking their own glory? Do you see yourself in the church singing for the glory of God and the love of your brothers and sisters or for your own benefit?

The Church as God's Song part 1

2008-12-04T05:32:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I think of the church as a truck, loads of little parts working together making something big and powerful and moving. Other times I see the church as a bunch of people, so messed up and screwed up fighting amongst themselves without any desire to change or grow and yet still preaching about how Jesus turned them round (couldn't think of an apt metaphor).

In the Silmarillion, Tolkien comes up with a new creation story. Illuvatar exists before anything and from his thoughts he creates the Ainur. Upon their creation, when nothing else exists, Ilúvatar teaches the Ainur the art of ‘Music’, which becomes their life and work. So Heaven becomes filled with the making of Music.

At first they sing songs that Illuvatar gives them, beautiful and powerful on their own, they are even more incredible as their collaborative effort far surpasses their own ability.

After a time of Music, Ilúvatar proposes a first ‘great’ design/theme/plan to all the Ainur at once: a symphony for His pleasure. He then charges them with the collective elaboration of this great design/plan/theme. They are to play themselves at composition.

While it is true that the Ainur are Ilúvatar’s thoughts embodied, they each have a life of their own, and are expected to utilize their ‘freedom’ by cultivating the grand theme. Only in the future, at the ‘end of days’, will all the created beings of Ilúvatar fully understand not only the divinely provided concepts and themes they each personally embody, but how each relates to all the others and fits (as per Ilúvatar’s intentions) in the entire greater scheme.

Game Over, Continue?

2008-12-01T02:54:00.000-08:00

We have one shot at life...

Did that scare you or challenge you?

I seem to switch back and forth, some days when I think of my one opportunity, I'm challenged to do the best I can. Other days, I have no idea which path to go and it terrifies me that if I go the wrong way then I'll miss out on so much and not realise my true potential.

All my favourite games have save points, and lots of them cos I'm not so good. You can attempt a level every different route until you find the best way. Why doesn't life have these? I'll pop in a save now and then attempt a career in business, see if I can change the world that way, UH OH, hollow and unsuccessful, reset.

Ah, working in the ghetto, Mugged and killed, Game Over, Continue?

Church Youthworker, trip to zoo, mauled by a bear, please insert coin...

bit of fun, but come on, one shot? That can't be enough. Seems its time to consult the guy who's outside of time and knows better and best for my life. But it is hard...

Looking at the Light...

2008-11-28T17:09:00.000-08:00

1.00 and Im just about to get to bed. The last two days have been a bit nuts, busy, tiring, a little emotionally exhausting but for once I've placed priority on listening to God and being with Him.

I'm feeling good and I know normally I wouldn't be, normally I'd be tired, anxious and fretting. Isn't it weird how when we most need God is the time we find it hardest to come to Him. We get into a negative cycle and can't get out.

I don't know whether its pride that does this to us, attempting to sort things out our own way in a misunderstanding of grace but whatever, we need to swallow it, deal with it, get over it (my favourite counselling terms).

But I'm doing well in Jesus and I'm testifying to grace, that even though things go a bit crazy God covers it and we really can rely on Him. Sounds old stuff but we really need to do it.

Sometimes we find it easier to stay staring at the darkness of the shadow we're causing than to face the bright light behind us.

Fame

2008-11-25T12:05:00.001-08:00

If you type Mike Addis on google, my blog is now on the front page, I'm finally regaining my name from some director Mike Addis of the film "Poor White Trash" and a Dr Michael Addis in the states (good luck to them both though).

I'm pretty sure that about five people read this blog, which is quite cool but I really enjoying writing it and even if no-one was reading it, I'm pretty sure I'd keep writing.

Unfortunately there's a part of me that seems to be desiring Fame. I've got a couple of cool networking opportunities coming up and I really want to re evaluate my motivation and aim for life.

The more I come into contact with Christ, the less an ordinary life, wife, 2.4 kids, house etc seems possible or desirable. But just as sickening is the idea of becoming a Christian celebrity, that should be an oxymoron. There is only God's fame.

Yet I still feel the desire to become big to achieve big things for God and I'm really struggling to become small so that God can achieve big things through me.

Smile International

2008-11-25T11:24:00.000-08:00

http://www.smileinternational.org/

Have a read of how this organisation came to be in the "How Smile began" section.

The other day, I met the guy Clive who it mentions. I was expecting an executive sort of guy, shiny and businessy. Instead he was quite quiet and down to earth, he spoke really humbly of the work his organisation was doing. From setting up Eastern Europe's equivalent of Soul Survivor in the middle of an Islamic country to running aid in the chaos of Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka.

It's an incredibly big organisation that's working in the world's poorest areas, Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia - all over.

After reading how they began, I realise that this sort of thing begins in prayer and action. Seeking God's will and then doing it. Moved by compassion, they saw God's will, had faith in it and so much seems to have sprung from taking a truck full of aid from Kent to Eastern Europe.

Smile has lots of opportunities for career breaks and gap years and check out there website for more details...

Bin Bag Bible...

2008-11-24T15:38:00.000-08:00

This summer, people from a few of the churches in my town were doing a week of mission. One afternoon a group of us were walking through town back to base, each carrying two or three heavy black bags full of litter we'd collected off the nearby estates

A vicar, all dog collared up, sped past us carrying a big choke-a-moose Bible and I had the overwhelming feeling that we were carrying a heck of a lot more of Jesus' living gospel in our bin bags than he was in his gold edged, leather bound book.

It's not about the size of your bible, its about how you use it, how you let it guide your life, into relationship with God, into mission, into worship and life to the full.

Getting out there..

2008-11-24T14:33:00.000-08:00

Y'know, it's so much easier to say something generic like "Come on, lets just go out and take the gospel to the streets" than to actually do it.

Which street for a start? and what am I actually gonna do with the gospel when I get there? How am I going to get it to the streets? It won't fit on the bus...

In my last post, I talked about being sensible, if we actually care about people, we have to channel our passion into productivity. Let's think sensibly about how we get out on the streets and then do it... I really am fed up of theory, I want to see action but I want to see people saved more.

So many ministries fail because people get taken by their passion, leave the church behind and when they eventually tire or mess up, it's over. I can't criticise people for acting on their passions because if everyone did it, we'd have something that works. Until everyone does though, it seems we have to expend energy on getting the church passionate about evangelism and then do it together.

We are a body not an island, we need each other. Passion is infectious, share it round and then "Lets go out and take the gospel to the streets".

Sensible Evangelism...

2008-11-24T14:12:00.000-08:00

When it comes to evangelism, lets put our cards on the table, we're not really seeing people saved.

I sometimes feel like, after months of prayer and planning, money and time that the line "You don't know what seeds have been planted" just isnt solace enough.

I know, I know, we really don't know what seeds are planted... Ugh.

I realise that my expectation is faulty. We have, as a church, quite a haphazard approach to reaching people, we seem to think if we put on an evangelistic event, an alpha course or a discipleship program then we should see a whole bunch of people we've never met before, passionately praising the following sunday.

The Damascan road conversions are so rare, most people go through a long process as they experience and come to know Jesus. The church needs to be looking at how they resource every part of this journey. Even Paul knew the Hebrew scripture inside out, God's process on him started a long time before.

Many churches become lopsided as they focus on evangelism but not follow-up or carry out loads of discipleship but not evangelism. All these things are linked, if we grow as Christians we should be sharing the grace we've found. There's only so far you can grow as a follower of Jesus until you have to start doing some of the stuff He did, like talking to the odd non-Christian.

Lets get sensible about how we reach people, lets up every area of our game. Use the reason we've been given by God and think sensibly about how we can reach people.

Bon Iver

2008-11-24T14:06:00.000-08:00

Another recommendation...

Bon Iver

I seemed to have listened to him for two days straight and am starting to worry that I'll never be able to think again. It's really relaxing music and a little off beat, just a bit different... Skinny Love and Re:Stacks are my personal preferences, Flume is pretty good too.

Try it out, have a chew of his delightful music.

A few reasons why I like Rob Bell...

2008-11-24T13:47:00.001-08:00

1. The guys a complete geek. I love it.

2. His theology is a mixture of what God's saying through the bible and what God's doing in the world. This means its alive and running wild, not pinned down into a text book.

3. He's passionate about Jesus. He can't get enough of who Jesus was and is (and is to come).

4. Most of his theology is probably wrong and I don't think he'd mind you saying it

5. Most of his theology is probably wrong but most of his teaching is helpful for Christians to live like Jesus and get passionate about God. He's a kickass orator.

6. NOOMA video's are one of the few well-made Christian things ... like a Josh Garrells song or ... umm ... a leather bound Bible.