Bonhoeffer - Advent

A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes … and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.(Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

Words to ponder

The author, Jeanette Winterson, has an occasional column in the Books section of the Times newspaper on a Saturday. The headline for her article in Saturdays’ edition was - ‘Capitalism’s collapse is on a scale undreamed of at the altars of idols’.

Her article was thought provoking. Here are some extracts to ponder over.

“We laugh at the primitive religious idea of human sacrifice – but whatever fancy words and theories you want to play with to describe this present spectacular collapse of global capitalism, it is human sacrifice on a scale undreamt of at the altars of idols.”

“the kingdom of this world, as the Bible puts it beautifully, can be balanced only by the Kingdom of God. This is not literal; it is symbolic. It is how the inner life checks the outward show. It is how conscience bridles impulse, it means recognising that there is much more to human life than to worship between the twin towers of money and power. The job of religion is to keep this in our sights.”

“At the moment when the empty secularism of the crumbling Roman Empire found no answer in the paralysis of the existing religious attitude, the birth story is the longed-for miracle - not because a militant avenger has appeared, nor a divine avatar, but because a baby – new life - will ask us to understand everything differently. That’s a story worth reading”.

Christians might want to take issue with what she means by 'divine avatar', but she offers some interesting words.

The mother of Jesus

The Thursday evening group at church has just finished the series on what the Gospels tell us about Mary. The final evening looked at what we learn about Mary from the Gospel of John. She has an important part in the miracle at Cana(John 2) and is there at the crucifixion. She is not named in John but is referred to as 'the mother of Jesus'. On the two occasions when Jesus speaks to her, he addresses her simply as 'woman'.
But from all that we learned of her we concluded that she was a remarkable woman who responded with faith when given the task of bearing the Messiah.
I read a comment somewhere that as Christians we are called to be like Mary in that we are called to 'carry' Christ into the world.
At a recent seminar Brian Maclaren suggested that we are to be as God's people the 'embodiment of Christ'( a phrase he prefers to the 'body of Christ' when describing the Church.)
Mary bore Jesus into the world and so in our own day we too are called to 'bear Christ' into the world through all that we are as individuals and as the church.

Random facts

I’ve been tagged by Andy to blog six random facts about me. It is a game that seems to being going round the 'blogging world'

The Rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Here we go with the random facts

1. I have lived in England for longer than I lived in Scotland.
2. I still get really fed up when my teams loses( or even draws) and even more fed up when our greatest rivals win any game of any sort.
3. I love being a grandfather
4. I am hopeless at DIY( just ask any member of the family)
5. I own two shares in Rangers( now worth the sum total of around £1.50)
6. My favourite cartoon character is Top Cat and I got excited recently to discover that I could watch some episodes with the 'on demand' button of Virgin Media.

Earth shattering revelations!! I will need to try and find those who I can tag.

'like a child in the arms of his mother'

At the moment I am following a pattern which will take me through all the Psalms by reading 5 Psalms each day. One of the Psalms for today was Psalm 131. This is a little gem from the Psalmist.

The German scholar Artur Weiser in his famous commentary on the Psalms writes this:

“this Psalm of Trust in God, which is unfortunately too little known, is a wonderfully tender and intimate little song. It is the outpouring of a mature faith and deserves to be classed with the most beautiful Psalms of the Psalter. The delicate tones of humble trust sound like the peaceful chime of bells at eventide in a quiet valley which the last rays of the setting sun fill with their soft light.”

The second half of his comment might be a little too flowery for my taste, but this Psalm certainly has something to say to us.

To put it very briefly –

The Psalmist begins by expressing his humility. He is not the fount of all knowledge and there is much which is beyond his understanding.

He then describes his trust in God in terms of a picture of a weaned child sitting comfortably and at peace in the embrace of his mother. The child is not demanding food or anything else and through the intimate mother/child contact has a sense of well-being and security.

The Psalmist finally encourages others to put their trust in the Lord.

Thoughtful words in a time of such uncertainty in our world. Would that we could all quieten ourselves and rest in God like a child in a mother's embrace.

Feeling my age

Tonight I was taking our regular Sunday night youth group.This does not happen very often, but other leaders were unavailable and I was next in line. They are a brilliant and lively bunch who are never short of words.
I decided to use some material from this year's Bible Sunday pack and talk a bit about the 'treasure' of the Bible.
The material suggested beginning the discussion by reflecting with the young people what three items they would choose if that was all they could take with them in an emergency( people and pets excluded). The answers ranged from ipods, mobile phones, pictures of family, laptops, teddy bear, passport, car(!), money. I was asked for my three and when I mentioned 'transistor radio' one of them immediately asked, "What's a transistor radio?".
How aged I now feel. Apart from that it was an enjoyable evening.

Creation

About to begin a short series of sermons on the subject of creation. In Saturday's Times newspaper there was a short piece by the Chief Rabbi whose occasional column is always thought provoking and stimulating. On Saturday he was musing on 'Genesis and the origin of the Origin of our species.' He noted that next year will mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his book 'On the origin of species'. He suggests that Darwin helped us to understand the "how" of God's "Let there be" and that the Creator created not just life but life that is in itself creative. He raises a number of interesting points from scientific discoveries. For example, having deciphered the genetic code, we know that all life in its seemingly endless variety has a single source. "The miracle of monotheism is that unity up there creates diversity down here." But none of the discoveries provides proof either of the existence or non existence of God. But each is surely a source of wonder. He reminds his readers that the Psalmist does not suggest that the heavens prove the existence of God, but that the heavens declare the glory of God. His final comment was, " the more we know about the intricacy and improbability of life, the more reason we have to wonder and give thanks".
As you might imagine I might just quote from the Chief Rabbi on Sunday.

On a completely different subject, I stumbled across a whole series from one of my favourite television cartoon characters from years ago. The cartoons can be watched via the On Demand button on our Virgin Media Cable television. Annette shook her head when I sat and watched two classic episodes of Top Cat who is the indisputable leader of the gang.

Spelling

Driving past a pub on Skipton Road on Wednesday I noticed a sign advertising last night's England Friendly. The sign said.... England v Cheques.

I suppose it was an interesting way to spell out who England were playing. With the vast amount of money to be found in English football at the moment, it was perhaps an understandable slip!

Olympic success

I have not been able to see that much of the Olympics but it has been good to celebrate so much British success. The cyclist Chris Hoy has certainly written his name into the record books.
The 32-year-old Scot becomes the first Briton in 100 years to win three golds at the same Olympics, after his earlier success in the team sprint and keirin. He has also become Scotland’s greatest every Olympian in terms of gold medals.

For me the Olympics always brings thoughts of another great Scottish Olympian, Eric Liddell. His 400m gold medal in the Paris Games of 1924 was a wonderful achievement for the man who at the time was the hot favourite to win the 100m. But he never ran in competitions on a Sunday and kept to this principle despite the importance of the Olympics. His story was largely unknown to many people until the film Chariots of Fire presented the account of how he and Harold Abrahams( two men from very different backgrounds) triumphed in Paris.
Liddell was born in China, the son of Church of Scotland missionaries. He was educated at Eltham College, studied at Edinburgh University and trained as a Congregational minister before he returned to China as a missionary. It was there in 1945 he died in a Japanese Internment Camp.
In the book ‘The Flying Scotsman’, Sally Magnusson tells the story of this remarkable athlete and Christian missionary. When news of his death reached Scotland, many memorial services were held across the country and even in other parts of the world. In Glasgow a large congregation gathered in the Dundas Street Congregational Church. Many leading sportsmen were there and among them were two very famous men from Glasgow Rangers FC. The legendary Alan Morton read the lesson and one of the tributes was paid by the manager of Rangers, Bill Struth( who himself had been an athletics coach before becoming perhaps the greatest ever Rangers manager). Struth said of Eric Liddell,
“He deliberately sacrificed a fine chance of one Olympic title because of his religious convictions. He just as certainly put aside a career of brilliance and affluence to serve his master in the most practical of all forms of Christianity. In his work in China he created an opportunity for the talents with which he was so richly endowed; courage, determination, skill, endurance and self sacrifice, to be utilized to the full. Sport gave to Eric Liddell its highest honours; nevertheless it is true to say that he honoured sport rather than sport honouring him.
The details of the last few years of his life are not yet known to us, but we can be certain that under the most severe of all trials, he exhibited just those qualities which he showed in his sporting life. His life was perhaps a short one; but his work as he clearly saw it, and, as we believe, divinely inspired, carried out away from the applause of the crowd, will remain a source of inspiration to many.
In these days of exaggerated hero-worship and publicity for sports champions, Eric Liddell’s example reminds us to put things into their proper perspective. Sport to him was sport – not the be-all and end-all – and success in it did not prevent him from picking out the things spiritual from the things temporal. His was an example which must have helped others to make similar choices.”

Holiday Club Closing Ceremony

Sunday morning worship on the 3rd August was entitled ' The Champion's Challenge Closing Ceremony'. At the great sporting events the closing ceremony is usually a celebration of all that has taken place and this is what we tried to do. The whole service was a celebration of what took place during the week. The children shared with the congregation what they had been learning; about the various craft activities and the games; we heard a few of their jokes and letters. Each team paraded in with their team flag and the final act of celebration was the presentation of the medals. All the children received a medal because all had achieved a personal best in one of the activities. It was a good ending to another excellent Holiday Club week. One of the ways in which we know the week went well is because at the end the children were asking about next year's Holiday Club.
This year we are planning a re-union party in November for everyone who came along. Before that the leaders and the helpers will treat themselves to a celebratory meal out!

Holiay Club - day 5

On the last day we had to revert to plan 'b'. Plan 'a' had involved going for a time to the open space on the Stray to play some games. But the heavy rain yesterday and some thunderstorms overnight meant that was not advisable. But plan 'b' worked well and we had a good day. All the groups got a chance to have a go at each of the 'personal best challenges( basketball hoop, skittles, dribble & shoot,long jump, squat thrusts). We also had borrowed some foam javelins and used these on the grass at the side of the church - the highlight for my group was when one of the javelins got stuck high up in one of the trees.
The theme for the day was 'Jesus - the winner' and the Biblical material included the story of the risen Lord meeting two of his followers on the road to Emmaus.
Parents and friends joined us for the final part of the morning when we sang some of our songs and showed off the Personal Best certificates.
It is onwards now to the 'Closing Ceremony' on Sunday( i.e. the Holiday Club morning service).

Joke of the day - 'Why did the chicken run onto the football field?'
answer - because the referee blew for a foul!

or ' What is sticky and bites?' ( a jampire)

Holiday Club day four

Theme for today was 'substitute' and the reading from Luke was the description of the betrayal by Judas and the arrest of Jesus. The DVD focussed on the death of Jesus with Flabby Lagoon interviewing Joseph of Arimathea.
We refrained from giving the children an exposition of the penal substitution theory of the atonement and simply told the familiar story. The worksheet from the Scripture Union material also looked forward to what happened next and tomorrow's theme is the resurrection.
It was a good morning and it passed very quickly. At the end of the morning there was only a very brief time for the usual jokes and letters.

joke of the day - what do you call a woman who stands between the goalposts? Answer - Annette.( I must tell my wife the joke - she will love it.)

second place joke of the day - what do you call a budgie who has flown in to the blender? ( answer - shredded tweet).

Perhaps I could add another joke - last night's performance by Rangers!

Holiday Club day three

Theme today was 'Jesus the team mate'. The Bible passage was from Luke 9:1-6, 10-17. The passage describes Jesus sending out the disciples on mission and then the feeding of the 5000. On both occasions the disciples worked with Jesus as part of a team and there was the reminder that we can all be part of the 'Jesus team'. The Dvd episode for today was perhaps the best yet and certainly kept the attention of the children. I am beginning to warm to the teaching dvd which is based around the BBC 'Match of Day' style interviews with Larry Spinnaker as the host. The location reporter is 'Flabby Lagoon' who is obviously based on a well known female sports reporter who is married to a former Scottish rugby international.

My team has almost completed our team flag and we are now thinking ahead to Sunday's 'Closing ceremony'.

Jokes today were of the 'knock, knock, who's there' variety. Sadly no one joke really stood out as they were all equally bad!

Holiday Club day two

Today's theme was Jesus as 'physio' and the Biblical material was from Luke 7:1-10, the story of Jesus healing the centurion's servant( and doing it at a distance). It is a remarkable story which, of course, we could not really delve into too deeply with the children.
But think of the scenario - a Roman centurion who actually has some care and affection for one of his slaves; this centurion is also sympathetic and helpful to the faith of the Jews among whom he lives;he has actually helped them to build a synagogue; he has contact with Jewish leaders and is ready to ask for their help; they react positively and seek the help of Jesus on his behalf; the centurion is humble enough and perhaps considerate enough to suggest that Jesus does not need to enter his house( think of the problems faced by a Jew who entered into a heathen Gentile's home); he recognizes the authority of Jesus and his servant is healed.
Jesus expresses his amazement at this display of faith and declares that he had not met such faith among his own people who are 'the very people who are supposed to know about God and how he works'( from the Message paraphrase).
Lots to think about in all of this and especially in the final words of Jesus about the centurion's display of faith.


Jokes for today were of the 'Doctor, doctor' variety and included the following -

patient - " Doctor, I keep thinking I am Tom Jones"
doctor - " it's not unusual"

I am not sure many of the children got it, but the all leaders did laugh or groan.

Champion's Challenge Day One

First day of this year's Holiday Club passed without a hitch and seemed to be enjoyed by all. The theme today was 'Jesus - the trainer' and the Bible passage was the parable of the two builders from Luke 6. In the spiritual preparation before the children arrived we were reminded by Sarah that God may call us to do hard things, things to which we would rather give a miss and things that will require effort of us.( it is Sarah and her sister Rachel who do all the hard up front work with the club and they do it superbly as a double act who can do both the serious and the hilarious).
We sang the theme song which I now cannot get out of my head. We made 'Olympic torches' in the craft time.
Tomorrow begins the 'personal best' challenge and my team( the Dominoes) will need to get down to making our team flag.


Joke of the day for me was - why did the premier league footballer on the transfer list cross the road - to get to the other side, of course.

Champion's Challenge

At Church we are now in the final stages of preparation for another Holiday Club week which begins on Monday 28th July. 47 children have booked in and we have a good and experienced team of leaders and helpers to make sure it all goes as it should. Harrogate Baptist has been running a Holiday Club every year for the past 17 or 18 years and some of those still involved have been doing Holiday Club every year from the start.
Champion's Challenge has a sporty theme. Each day's title uses a different sporting image to explain different facets of who Jesus is( have you ever thought of Jesus as a physio?). The Biblical material is from Luke's Gospel. Again I get to wear a t-shirt that is unlikely to see the light of day after the week is over. The Holiday Club services is the only time I turn up at church on Sunday in a t-shirt( not even when I am on holiday).
I will try to blog during the week and reflect on how my group respond to the games,teaching and activities( and on a how I am surviving!).

Great Yorkshire Show

We have lived in Harrogate for just over seven years and yesterday we finally made it to the Great Yorkshire Show. Annette and I enjoyed our day out and the weather was really kind to us. Among the attractions was a number of cookery demonstrations. One of the chefs was Tim Cottrill, an 18 year old Church member at Harrogate Baptist. It was amazing to watch him demonstrate how to prepare and cook two separate dishes while giving his audience a running commentary and snippets of good advice. He appeared absolutely cool and relaxed throughout the whole demonstration. I think he has a big future in food if he chooses to go in that direction. Hopefully when he is a famous chef at a top international restaurant he might remember the minister who baptized him!!
During our day we also visited the Yorkshire Church on Show display which was based on the theme of 'the Good Shepherd'.

back to work

I have been back to work now for a week after a two week holiday. We spent a very enjoyable week in the Austrian Tyrol and then some equally enjoyable days with the family in the West Midlands.
Our week in Austria was based in the village of Fieberbrunn. On our first morning there we had a walk round the village led by the Hotel owner who had lived there all his life. He explained some of the customs and what life was like in a Tyrolean village. I had noticed that written with chalk above the doors of many of the houses( and on our hotel) was the following, 20 C+M+B 08. Thankfully he explained this as he described some of their Advent and Christmas customs. The letters have 2 meanings. They are the initial letters of the traditional names given to the magi - Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar. They also abbreviate the Latin words - Christus mansionem benedicat( may Christ bless this house). At Epiphany 3 boys dressed as the wise men accompany the local priest as they visit the houses of the village and where they are received with a gift( usually now money which is given to an international charity) the letters, numbers and crosses are chalked above the door(the numbers indicating the year). Austria is very much a Roman Catholic nation and this custom is seen by the villagers as an important one. The people will leave this chalk writing on the doorpost throughout the whole year and would never think of wiping it clean. Looking for information on the internet it would seem that this custom originated in Germany or Poland.

Nearly on Holiday

Just tying up a few loose ends on this Friday morning before a week's 'holiday'. After a weekend when we will catch up with our grandchildren( and their parents), I have the task of decorating the study during the week. I mentioned this in an email to the secretary of Churches Together in Harrogate who sent me this -

Enjoy the emulsion. “I will enter the study with a paint brush in my hand, I will enter the room with praise; I will say this is the week when the study will be done, I will rejoice for it will make me glad. It will make me glad, it will make me glad…”

I am not sure I will be able to sing that song again. But at least it was not one of my favourites.

Wednesday evening

I dashed home on Wednesday evening after the induction of the new president of Churches Together in Harrogate. It was good to be there and support Ian from St Paul's URC( fellow Scot and member of the St Andrew's society) who was taking on this role. Ian spoke briefly about his hopes for this year and used words from Galatians to set the scene. He quoted from Galatians 6:10 - 'Whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith'.
Paul's words are a reminder of the challenge to the church to look out towards the community while not forgetting the need to also look towards the community of faith. It brought to mind the well worn words about 'gathering for worship and scattering for mission'. In these days sometimes the emphasis seems at times entirely on the call to 'scatter for mission'. But we will surely only be able to do that effectively if we 'gather for worship'.

The reason I dashed home was to watch the UEFA cup final. I managed to see the last 15 minutes of the first half and the rest of the game. Disappointing result for this Rangers supporter who had hoped that his team might win a European trophy for the second time. This disappointment was intensified by the after march actions of a mindless minority who did the reputation of Rangers fans no good at all.

Prayers

A new 'middle aged' cell group at Church met this week and produced some daily prayers to be used each day between Ascension and Pentecost.
The prayers can be found at

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dmw43qs_7dmqhmmdm&hl=en

The prayers particularly focus on discussions we are having with a nearby URC about forming an Ecumenical Partnership.

I came across this prayer yesterday. Made me think.

How do I build your ‘house’ – your kingdom, Lord?

I think I’d find it easier
if you told me to build
a temple of bricks and mortar.
That’s tangible. I could measure my progress.
What is it you want me to build?
You say you don’t live in a temple made by human hands (Acts 17:24)
But you also say my body is your temple (1 Corinthians 6:19)
and that we together as Christian community are your temple (1 Corinthians 3:16).

So it seems it is my very life and my relationships
that build a dwelling place for your Spirit, Jesus.
Today may everything I say and do be a building block
creating space where you are pleased to dwell.
When I meet with others remind me to ask:
‘Would God be pleased to dwell with us in this conversation… this activity?’
And when I spend time and money on my own lifestyle
let me be just as generous with time and money to help
your kingdom to come on earth just as it is in heaven.
(Sheila Pritchard)

Some words of Oscar Romero

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No programme accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.

Wise and thought-provoking words

Burns night

Burns night will rapidly be upon us. This year I am preparing for 3 Burns Suppers. At two I am giving the Immortal Memory and at the other I simply need to say the Selkirk grace.
I do enjoy reading Burns and wished I had started to read him years ago. Sadly we did very little of Burns at school and there was more Shakespeare on the curriculum( and this in Scottish schools!).
In his poem 'Address to the unco guid'( address to the rigidly righteous) Burns presents a biting satire of those who look down on others with a self righteousness. The poem is prefaced by a reference to Ecclesiastes 7:16.
The first verse reads:

O ye wha are sae guid yersel
Sae pious and sae holy
Ye’ve nought to do but mark and tell
Your neighbours’ fauts and follies
Whase life is like a weel- gaun mill
Supplied with store o' water,
the heapet happer's ebbing still
and still the clap plays clatter.

The final verse reminds the reader -

Who made the heart, tis he alone
Decidedly can try us
He knows each chord, its various tone
Each spring, its various bias
Then at the balance, let’s be mute
We never can adjust it
What’s done we partly may compute
But know not what’s resisted.

Wise words from the Bard.