see-through faith

I was really privileged yesterday evening, I got to go to the musical LionKing with my Godson and family. What a blessing!!! It was a fabulous performance, full of colour and energy, and it somehow managed to catch the vibes of Africa perfectly. It really filled my tank to overflowing again!

Most of us – I suppose – familiar with Disney’s LionKing. The musical follows the plot fairly faithfully (to be honest I don’t know which came first!). The most impressive part (for me) was the stampede of the wildebeest, the pivotal point was Simba hearing his father’s voice , but the most poignant was his crying out for his father, Endless Night.

It’s not a song I’m familiar with, but some of the words really spoke to me last night, in the midst of all the colour and excitement of the show.

Father, I feel so alone

You promised you’d be there
Whenever I needed you
Whenever I call your name
You’re not anywhere

I’m trying to hold on
Just waiting to hear your voice
One word, just a word will do
To end this nightmare

Sometimes it feels that we really need a specific word from God doesn’t it?  I mean I know that it’s true that God is our shepherd and we do hear his voice, but sometimes that voice is muffled or it’s as if our ears are full of wax!

I dream of the day

When you were by my side
Guiding my path

Simba remembers the days when his father did walk by his side. There’s a lesson in that for me too.

Father, I can’t find the way

You promised you’d be there
Whenever I needed you
Whenever I call your name
You’re not anywhere

I’m trying to hold on
Just waiting to hear your voice
One word, just a word will do
To end this nightmare

That’s not to say God isn’t there for us – but sometimes He does feel far away. Simba’s story ended well. Mine will too – but today and tomorrow and the day after I want to hear the Father’s voice.

Last night was a really special night with my Godson, his dad and little brother. And that it tapped into some of my feeling alone, and tapped into my longing to hear God’s voice loudly and clearly again was only a bonus.

If you ever have the chance to go see the LionKing here in London. Do it!

at last!

It’s given me the chance to get back into the Word a bit. In Saints Alive! this morning we re-visited Mary and Martha (which is always good to do) and this afternoon I’ve been looking at a couple of the prophets again. The message they gave (almost invariably) was one which named the sins of the people and called them back to God.

Not surprisingly they weren’t very popular.

Jesus himself noticed that prophets were without honour especially at home, but I’m not sure they were very that popular.

God’s message hasn’t changed much throughout the millenia. We all – as Paul puts it – fall short of the glory of God, but it is the job of the prophets to show us how to get back onto the right path. Their call – to repentance and to re-align our ways with God’s – still (at best) gets forgotten after time as we slip back into old ways.

Is there anything that can be done about it? I’m not sure.

Depressing? A bit. And yet reading the accounts of Elijah and Ezekiel demonstrated to me  (yet again) and reminds me how faithful God is, and how much He longs for us to change our ways and re-turn to Him.

That’s good food for thought for a rather quiet Wednesday.

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even

…

In his master’s steps he trod
Where the snow lay dinted
Heat was in the very sod
Which the Saint had printed
Therefore, Christian men, be sure
Wealth or rank possessing
Ye who now will bless the poor

Shall yourselves find blessing

(This English Christmas carol is unusual as there is no reference in the lyrics to the nativity, nonetheless it is sung at Christmastide mostly, I suspect, because today December 26th – i.e. boxing day – is the feast of St Stephen, the first martyr. You can read about him in Acts 6:8-10 and in Acts 7).

The words to the carol “Good King Wenceslas” were written by John Mason Neale and published in 1853, the music originates in Finland 300 years earlier.)

Here’s where hubby, dogs and I trod on the feast of St Stephen

Today in Finland it’s the shortest day of the year. This year it’s not so bad because a) there’s quite a bit of snow even here in Turku and b) I’ve had a huge booster of sun and daylight having been away for the past month- that’s done wonders for me.

Still the statistics speak for themselves …

Turku: Sun rises 9:37 and sets 15:20. Length of day is a whopping 5 h 43 min.

I’m just grateful to live in the south of Finland.

In Kokkola for example the day length is a miserly 4 h 17 min. (The sun rose at 10.17 this morning and will set just after 2.30 this afternoon!) Further north in Oulu the statistics are even grimmer the sun rises at 10.30am and sets at 2pm, while in Rovanniemi (on the artic circle) today lasts less than 3 hours – hardly worth getting up at all – it’s light only from quarter to eleven until one thirty. Argh. And let’s not mention Uutsjoki where they haven’t had daylight for the past three weeks and won’t see the sun again until early January. Shudder!

Jesus, however, is the light of the world.  His presence dispells the darkness and brings joy and hope to us.

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. (1 Jn 1:5)

One of my favourite contemporary worship songs is Light of the World. The visuals here are excellent, but I have to say that it’s the lyrics that really speak to me of God’s infinite love …

Light of the World You stepped down into darkness
Open my eyes let me see
Beauty that made this heart adore you
hope of a life spent with You

Jesus is the light of the world in which we live – no matter how few hours of daylight we get today. Let’s take time to bow down – allow Him to renew our hearts and minds – as we worship Him.

I spent yesterday hanging out with friends from the International Congregation – doing Bibliodrama. If you don’t know what that is – these comments might help.

“An extraordinary method of teasing out new meanings from stories you think you know all too well. Important for ….  Christians in dialogue with their own traditions and with one another.”

(Rev. Chris Leighton, Executive Director of the Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies)

I really enjoyed the day. Sadly I can’t tell you the best stories from yesterday as what happens need to be kept confidential (otherwise people wouldn’t feel free enough to participate fully) but I am free of course to share my own experiences.

We wrestled with the traditional Advent text from Mt 21:1-11.

Matthew 21? Erm … If like me you find yourself scratching your head wondering if there’s been a typo and the text should have been Luke 2 or Matthew 2 – you are in good company. But trust me there’s no mistake. In Finland the ‘Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem’ is read on Advent Sunday (this year on November 29th) and so it was the text we worked with yesterday.

It did seem strange to me at fist too – but I’ve grown to like it. For me it’s a reminder of the heart of this song (Above all) by Michael W. Smith.

Anyway back to Bibliodrama. It was a lot of fun. What I really liked about the bibliodrama was that we could use our imaginations to ‘see’ the invisible people in the text. At one point I played the part of the rope around the neck of the donkey on which Jesus rode into Jerusalem, and later on I wrestled with what it would have been like to be Judas on that day! What was he thinking? What made him take matters into his own hands?

The best thing about the day was that I felt I could agree with Alicia Ostriker, poet and author, who said about Bibliodrama

“I’ll never read the Bible the same way again.”

Or more specifically I’ll never read the Advent text in the same way again.

I also really enjoyed getting to know the Christians from the international congregation a bit better.

Because this is Finland we ended the day by going to the sauna and grilling sausages over the open fire which was a lovely end to the day. While the guys were having their turn in the heat – a friend and I had a go at Nordic Walking which was fun too and very effective. We also had time to talk and share life (always good!)

And an extra bonus of the day for all of us I think was seeing a couple we’ve not seen in ages (since they moved to Helsinki) – they took some photos and promised to email them to me so I can post something here … so watch this space!

I am not a singer and I don’t play a musical instument but over the years God has made me a worshipper.  And I’m so glad. It’s probably the most powerful weapon in my ‘spiritual box of tricks’ – and I know that in the past when I’ve been at rock bottom, when I haven’t had the strength to pray or pick up my Bible, or even to call a Chrisitan friend for help, God has somehow given me the ability to sing out His praises and to worship Him – even if all I’ve actually done is put on a CD and crumple at his feet weeping.

Today the worship at our local church was beautiful and took me before the throne of grace in a special way. One of the songs we sang was from Hillsongs  (which I’ve written about before).

Part of it goes …

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me

Break my heart for what breaks yours
Everything I am for your kingdom’s cause
As I walk from earth into eternity

I want that to be more than a song in my life – I want that ALL to become a reality- not only to sing it out but live it out – to be part of a generation that is rising up in spirit and in truth – and becoming (to quote from a different song) a people of God going out inthe power of God and serious about building the Kingdom of God -where we are here and now not always waiting for a better day or a more open heaven!

As I began writing this I was thinking about worship and the armour of God – Ephesians 6 states ‘Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil’. There the armour of God is listed as the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, our feet fitted to walk out the Good News, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit (the Word) … but there’s no direct mention of worship. It’s not there at all until you look closely at the ‘praying in the spirit on all occasions’, which when you think about it just has to include worshipping doesn’t it?

I love how the message puts it all

Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.

A few years ago I was on holiday in Florida.

I went into a Christian bookstore and a worship CD was playing. I immediately felt the presence of God and it was marvellous: so real, so precious, so tangible – tears just started to pour down my cheeks yeah right there in the middle of the store! One of the things I really like about bookstores in the USA is that there are comfy chairs and sofas to sit in while you flick through books, and so I found one of those and flopped down and allowed the presence of God minister to me through the music as I too worshipped him.

I had no idea who was singing on the worship CD -so when it ended I had to go and ask the lady serving on the desk – turns out it was Terry McMacalmon who is probably the most anointed worship leader I’ve ever heard. One of the songs he was singing was this.

Today, when I came home from church, I read something that broke my heart.

Terry MacAlmon Steps Down From Ministry

Worship leader Terry MacAlmon announced in May that he was stepping down from ministry after having had an extramarital affair. “I don’t have a timeline as to if or when I will return to ministry, but I know I cannot go forward with my soul in this condition,” MacAlmon wrote in a letter to ministry supporters.

On his ministy website it merely says ‘Thank you for your prayers for Terry and the MacAlmon family during this difficult season’ … which brings me back to my thoughts on today’s worship and the passage in Ephesians 6.

Do you know what … I am tired of letting the enemy win -  I am tired of him breaking up marriages between Christian men and women, I’m fed up of Christian leaders taking their eyes off of Jesus and giving in to the lies that we are contstantly bombarded with on tv and through music on the radio and all kinds of advertisting …we are lost without his anointing and it’s time we – the people of God – stepped up in the power of God -and began praying for one another as if our lives depended on it – because hear me when I say this – our lives do depend on it.

Spent some time this afternoon pruning trees. Our neighbour’s cherry trees to be precise. I last did it several years ago so this was a job long overdue. They were impeding the way in to our bikeshed and also making it a bit tricky to walk around the car with the dogs. Now there’s room again which is good.

When I’d finished there I went into our back garden and did the same thing with our own cherry tree. It was much smaller (because I’ve cut it back every year) – but all the trees were very fertile this year. Lots of cherries. It will be interesting to see what next year brings.

It always feels a bit sad to cut trees back – even though it’s good for them.

I’m not much of a gardener. To be honest to me gardens are a place to sit in – in the sun – with a good book. But on the rare occasions I fiddle with garden work (planting bulbs, cutting the grass or as in the autumn pruning trees and raking autumn leaves) it’s always a good chance to be with Father God.

Today was no different. As I was reaching up to pull and snip the branches of the cherry trees overhanging our drive, I was reminded of John 15.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ²He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. ³You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. ⁸This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.(Jn 15: 1-5 NIV)

The Message translates verse 5 as Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. I like that. We are called into a very intimate relation with our Triune God – Father, Son and Spirit. He wants us at home with Him – sitting around the table with Him, sharing our lives with Him. Jesus continues by saying  When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant.The harvest first and foremost our maturity as followers of Christ. It all starts with our relationship with God – and trusting Him and allowing Him to cut away anything that is not of Him. Sometimes, I know from my own experience, that pruning is very painful but we can trust Him. He knows what He is doing. And the reward is great. We grow in maturity and Christlikeness.

I woke up really early this morning. Going to bed early was probably the reason … have to try that another time I think!

It meant that by 8am I had got most of my admin chores done (insurance papers and banking) and there was time to have a second cup of tea and get my Bible out. Today over at into the Bible I started reading Mark. Do join me if you’ d like to. I post the reading each day usually along with some questions to get myself thinking. If they help you too great, if not throw them out!

As I read what struck me  – once again – was how fast paced Mark’s Gospel is. It’s full of action.  Jesus was certainly a man on a mission. Theologically speaking He is the God of mission (missio dei) but you know what I mean. Mark’s Gospel is so full of action though that there’s hardly time to breathe! .. If we feel like that reading it – imagine how Jesus must have felt to have large crowds pressing in for more and more of his time, effort, energy. How did he cope? There’s a clue in Mk 1:35.

Way before dawn he got up … and prayed.

If Jesus needed that time in order to hear the Father’s voice and discern His will, it’s a fair assumption that we need it too don’t you think?

We need to be intentional about praying and reading the word in the same way as we need to be intentional about going about the Father’s business. They are all inter-connected.

I’m sure Jesus would rather have stayed in bed than brave the cool pre dawn air.  I know I would. And I have to say that there’s nothing specially sacred about early mornings. I think the point is prioritising time with God in our busy everyday lives.

Many many years ago now I gave a children’s address (mini sermon) in our local church. I think it challenged me – and other adults too – more than the kids to be honest.

I had a large box, on which I’d written Lorna’s life. Another large box was marked with the name of Jesus.  I also had a whole stack of things that signified the things I do on a daily or weekly basis. A can of beans for grocery shopping, school bag for teaching, swimming suit, book for reading/study etc etc. As I put the things in Lorna’s life it rapidly became apparent that there was going to be no room for Jesus.

The kids pointed out that I needed to put Jesus in before all the rest of the stuff. They were right! When Jesus went in first there was still room for the other things but not vice versa!

Out of the mouths of babes!

I still struggle with this. I’m sure we all do.

The world says we are so busy that we have to keep running on the wheel in order to keep it turning. (I’m sure eija would have a great photo here of the gerbils or whatever they were but you get the idea!) The Kingdom of God calls us to run a very different race. That starts with slowing down, maybe even stopping, in order to hear the Voice of God. In order to be commissioned by Him we need to stop and listen to His voice of love and affirmation. If we don’t – no matter how well intentioned we might be – we quickly find ourselves going about our own business rather than the Father’s.

Jesus prioritised hearing that voice. We are to do likewise.

“You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life!” (Mk 1:11)