Jesus a Punk Rocker?

When you hear the word punk rocker you probably think of a weird, colourful hairstyle, safety pins, terrible language and even more terrible music. But that superficial expression of oneself is only part of the story. Behind all the shock of the punk movement which began in the late 1970's was a movement that was inclusive, non-judgmental and supportive and for many young people like myself who were suffering oppression or worse at home and living through the power cuts, 3 day weeks poverty and deprivation of the time it was a sanctuary where we could be ourselves, express ourselves and stick two fingers up at a nation that seemed to be in self-destruct mode. 

When Jesus appeared on the scene in first-century Jerusalem Judaism had been in self-destruct mode for generations. The leaders of the nation, in many cases no more than puppets of their Roman overlords, used their position as the keepers, interpreters and enforcers of the religious law to "load people with burdens hard to bear” (Luke 11:46) whilst living an easy life for themselves in luxury and false piety. Sound familiar? Then along came Jesus: counter-cultural and anarchic! He challenged the accepted order, lived among the despised and forgotten of society, preached a way of life that was inclusive, and stood up for those who couldn't stand up for themselves. Its no wonder that he was accused of being subversive by the Jewish authorities who preferred to have “notorious prisoner called Barabbas” (Matthew 27:16) amongst them who was “among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection” (Mark 15:7). They saw Jesus as not only a threat to the peace that they had with the Romans, something he had in common with Barabbas, but also a direct threat to them and their authority.

So Jesus was not only inclusive non-judgmental and supportive, he was also anarchic, subversive and non-conformist. Jesus a punk rocker? It's an interesting thought.

2014

Well what a year that was! I guess if I had written down in January 2014 my expectations for the year ahead I would have missed off a few major almost earth-shattering events that happened. Chief amongst those would be finding myself single at the start of 2015 with very little hope for reconciliation with Michelle in spite of my best efforts. This reminds me of two pieces of scripture, the first of which has cropped up many times in my life Proverbs 3:5,6:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. 

We must always trust in God to make things happen according to His plan and not our own, so I start 2015 with this scripture held close to my heart. What will 2015 have in store for my life, my relationships, my family? I will continue to pray and I trust God with the expectation that His will be done in my life and of those that I love.

The second piece of scripture comes from the book of James chapter 4:13-17. The wisdom of James tells us that we should not put to much store in our own plans, desires and wants. Yes make plans, yes have expectations but place them in His hands saying "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."

I have lots of plans for 2015, I am excited about what God may have in store for me and our fellowship, but the beat of my drum will be Proverbs 3:5,6 with the words from James 4:15 on my lips.

 

James 5

I have just been reading James 5 and it got me to wondering; in a society where no one goes without, where money - through loans, credits and benefits - is readily available, where even the poorest amongst us can have clothes to wear, food in their bellies, a roof over their heads, and access to amazing health facilities, how can this warning to rich oppressors apply to us? In the end the answer comes swiftly and once again we have to stop thinking on an individual basis and think corporately, or in this case globally. Our country along with many countries in the world qualifies as a "rich oppressor" of other nations that do not have our wealth and opportunities, the question is "how do I challenge this?" but the answer does not come swiftly in this case. Perhaps as individuals and corporately as the church we can use what opportunity we have to change the status quo, and perhaps as the Church we can start with ourselves. I love Pope Francis and all that he is trying to do with the Catholic Church, what a man of God he is. I see Justin Welby in a similar light however I think his job is much more difficult than the Pope's as the Anglican Church is so intertwined with our government and the laws of this land. But enough of that, I am called to take the plank of wood out of my own eye before I try to take the speck of dust out of my brothers eye and there is where I need to begin.

Let it snow!!

Apparently there is a storm front on its way that could result in us having a white Christmas? In spite of all the disruption it causes I love snow. I love it when one gets up in the morning to find the world covered in a blanket of white, I love it even more when the snow is virgin, there are no footprints to disturb its perfect, unbroken covering. Or when you can see the footprints made by the little birds as they forage about for food. When walking in it I love it when in crunches under your feet, and the way it seems to deafen the sounds and brings a little quiet into our noisy world. It seems that all that purity, that whiteness can cover up the brokenness and detritus of our world, and just for a time the earth is perfect once again.

The cleansing that the snow seems to bring and the purity of its brilliant radiance is reflected in the words of King David in Psalm 51 who, when pleading for mercy and forgives after Nathan the Prophet admonished him for his affair with Bathsheba and his treachery towards Uriah, wrote "Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow." David goes on to say "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." Like washing away our sins, snow is only temporary in our part of the world, like the first verse we can wash and be clean but that doesn't change our hearts, we can still be unclean on the insider, which is why David asks God to do a work within him.

We are reading James at the moment and in 4:8 it says "wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." Emphasising the fact that it is not just our exterior that needs to show the mark of holiness and salvation, but what is inside as well, echoing the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish,but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence." Jesus then goes on to instruct that we should "clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean."

Cleansing, renewal and recreation are fundamental to our faith but they all start with what is going on inside such as our minds being renewed (Romans 12:12). All of this is perhaps summarised best by Ephesians 4:22-25 "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

As we approach the end of another year through the gateway of Christmas and our celebration of the birth of Jesus, let us all think about ourselves and ask "do we conform to the pattern of this world?" is our faith like snow; a beautiful, pure blanket yet covering something not so beautiful underneath? If that is the case then why not join me in a prayer of David:

Have mercy on me, O God,

    according to your unfailing love;

according to your great compassion

    blot out my transgressions.

Wash away all my iniquity

    and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,

    and my sin is always before me.

Against you, you only, have I sinned

    and done what is evil in your sight;

so you are right in your verdict

    and justified when you judge.

Surely I was sinful at birth,

    sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;

    you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;

    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness;

    let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins

    and blot out all my iniquity.

Create in me a pure heart, O God,

    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me from your presence

    or take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation

    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

    so that sinners will turn back to you.

Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,

    you who are God my Savior,

    and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.

Open my lips, Lord,

    and my mouth will declare your praise.

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;

    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;

    a broken and contrite heart

    you, God, will not despise.

Amen

How long?

I have been watching the brilliant, but occasionally farcical, The Passing Bells. A drama about a young German lad and a young British lad who volunteer in WW1. Whilst watching accounts of these young men, some as young as fifteen, going off to war and the pain felt by their families left behind I had a chilling thought; how long before our children have to go off and fight a war. A whimsical thought you may think, but just look at the world today, what would it take for all the current conflicts in the Middle East to merge into one major conflict that draws all the world in? Not that much I am sure and that is disturbing. Jesus said that "blessed are the peacemakers" and the time is long overdue for the politicians of this world to stop thinking about their own careers and pushing their own personal, self-seeking agenda's, and to start thinking about how peace can be brought about in our troubled world. I accept that this may mean further and greater conflict, even though I find this distasteful, but something must be done to halt the ever-decreasing circle of violence and hate that will eventually see the children of all nations going off to war on a global scale.

Just Friends?

I heard someone use this statement on TV this evening and it stopped me in my tracks, its a statement I have heard many times before and often used myself; a statement that means that there is nothing going on between them. In short that a boy and a girl, or a man and a woman are not having a sexual relationship. Then everyone breathes a sigh of relief "Oh there just friends! Well that's all sorted then."

But there is no such thing as "just friends"; friends are there for you in your time of need, they give everything unconditionally or without expecting anything back, they are not easily offended, they get more joy out of seeing you happy or succeeding than being happy or succeeding themselves. In the relationship, no matter how deep and maybe intimate it is, there is no expectation of a sexual relationship, indeed it is on neither parties agenda. Friendship, true friendship, can never be described as "just" a friendship, it is earth shatteringly huge. It can change the way people think, change the way people live, and even completely change the world. "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13) Jesus demonstrated the significance of friendship with the ultimate sacrifice that changed our world. So please, lets drop this “just friends” as an escape clause when describing relationships and lets treat friendship the way it should be, with awe.  Perhaps when someone asks you if there is something going on between two people and you know the truth then perhaps the response should be: “No they are not lovers, but they are friends.”

Rough and Ready

My dad always used to say to me that if something is worth doing, then it is worth doing well. He had a good point, but in some cases if we wait until everything is perfect before we do something then it may never get done at all. In the case of our faith if we wait until we are perfect before we start contributing to the work of the kingdom then we will never get going, indeed our study in James will explore the fact that perfection can only be achieved if we actually get on and do something; teaching that is diametrically opposed to my Dad's nugget of wisdom. 

I am sure we are all aware of the amount of effort that goes into a Sunday morning service, sometimes I get frustrated that there is always something else to do on a Sunday morning before I can  get on with the business in hand. This can often lead to some of us who are involved starting the service flustered, confused, agitated or even angry.....not a good place to be when  coming before God, especially when one is required to lead or teach others.

At the beginning of my ministry at Station Hill it was my intention to spend most of the morning before the service in meditation and prayer, and although I have managed to more time in prayer compared to previous years, my desire (and it is a desire, not a goal or objective but a heart-felt desire) for fervent, sustained, focused prayer for at least thirty minutes before the service is yet to be met. The evening services are supposed to be quite different, more relaxed, less formal. Yet the last two, despite being all these things, have been a little "rough and ready" particularly when it comes to organising the music. I was encouraged last night, not only by the number of people who attended, but also by the way people faced our disorganisation with humour and grace. Hopefully we will get into our stride and be a little more organised in the future, but without creating the organisational challenges that face is on Sunday mornings. Wouldn't it be so much easier if we could just turn up and it all worked? Yes, but I would rather find perfection through the works that I do, than strive for perfection before I do anything.