Second Lent post - first new passage

Choosing the first passage to memorise (after Ephesians 3:14-21 which I'd prepared earlier) is dead easy.

It has to be Jeremiah 29:11-13:
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

This passage occupied an early morning prayer meeting we began when I was minister at North Camp Methodist Church for a year. We kept trying to move on to a new passage and God kept bringing us back.

Different parts of it strike me most powerfully at different times - at the moment its the last verse that grips me, 'you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.'

I've been a follower of Jesus for over 50 years and I've never quite managed this. There's always something that gets in the way of me giving my whole heart to him. Sinfulness, busyness, good things that aren't God things and many more.

Repeating this verse as part of my memory passage will challenge me over and over again to allow God's Spirit to fill my heart completely. Repeating the Ephesiansd prayer reminds why its in my best interest to do so.

It’s that time again - Lent!

I’ve always tried to observe lent as a period when I make extra time for God.

The season snuck up on me this year and I’m ill-prepared.

However, one thing occurred to me as I sat down to think about the shape of lent for me this year - memorising the Bible.

A few years ago all three of us in my L3D accountability group decided to learn off by heart Ephesians 3:14-21 - Paul’s amazing prayer that the Church in Ephesus would receive the power to know how much they are loved by God. I was asked to preach on this passage a couple of weeks ago and decided that part of my preparation would be to re-learn it. It gave me great satisfaction to do a dramatic recital of the passage rather than reading it.

I was reminiscing with Chas (an inspiring Christian and member of the L3D group who learnt it and remembered it far better than me) about how significant both of us found the passage and how it sustained us both through difficult times in recent years. Afterwards i realised that without being aware of it, I’d begun to recite the passage in my head (and occasionally out loud - the dog may soon know it off by heart too as the morning walk is a great time to speak it out) several times a day.

So my Lenten discipline this year comes in two parts:
Learning key bible passages off by heart.
Filling the quiet moments in the day by saying the passages to myself.

I think constant repetition of scripture has a much greater impact on our minds, our spirits and our lives than we realise and expect that in speaking out God’s word, I’ll be drawn closer to him.

My next challenge is working out what the passages will be.

By the end of lent I hope to be regularly reciting six passages to myself.

Which passages would you choose?

Putting on my superman suit

Powerful encounters with God in unexpected places.

The Fresh expressions community gathering in September 2019 was around the theme of poets, prophets and dreamers - reconnecting with the margins.

In the afternoon I went most unwillingly (unsubtle Methodist allusion here - read John Wesley’s Journal for 4/5/1738) to a poetry workshop, which despite my reluctance was ok. I spent a while playing with the image of sailing a windsurfer in strong winds on choppy water and the exhilaration of harnessing the wind and navigating the conditions.

In the evening I got into conversation with Pete & Kath Atkins and Andrew Vertigan. I had not intended to, but found myself opening up to some big struggles I’ve been having in my spiritual life. These struggles had left me doubting my ability to do what I’m sure God has called me to. This has led to a weird kind of paralysis where I’m continually struggling to engage with my day job, because I’m no longer confident I can actually deliver what is needed.

They listened and offered good prayerful suggestions and lots of re-assurance that they’ve walked with me for many years and have seen me used by God so often that I shouldn’t doubt myself (but I still did!). They also offered wise counsel about the way forward in my national role for the Methodist role - I’m still thinking and praying through that bit.

As we turned to prayer Bob & Mary Hopkins (who’ve shared even more of my journey) came along and joined in.

I don’t remember all of what was said, but I remember two things in particular which were both prophetic words from Kath. The first was a sloughing off of the sense of failure which I’d been living under for some time - this kind of prayer works at an emotional and spiritual level which for me engages far more deeply than rational argument.

Next she shared an image of me as Clark Kent - puny, bespectacled ineffective, walking into a phone box ripping off the shirt and glasses and being transformed into superman. A powerful image that caused amusement round the table, but I don’t think I really ‘owned’ it.

I went to bed with lots to think about and pray about - but God hadn’t finished yet!

The next morning we moved on to dreaming (I shared a lovely conversation with Mary Hopkins about our dreams for the respective denominations that we love and serve (and occasionally get very frustrated with) - most of the content of that conversation disappeared under the impact of the next session.

We moved on to the prophetic - first with some wonderful teaching on hearing God from Ceri Harris (Accessible Prophecy). I shared with Kath Atkins who in the initial conversation said that God rarely spoke to her through verses of scripture to pass on. We turned to prophesying for one another - Kath asked me to turn on the Bible on my iPad because God had put Joel Chapter 3 in her mind. We read it together and she said - I think I’ve got it wrong nothings jumping out at me - little did she know!

I went back to a verse that caught my eye the first time through Joel 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision.

This verse is the title of a song from a hippy Jesus musical called Lonesome Stone. I felt that was important and felt strong emotions welling up inside me. 

As we waited on God I had a powerful memory of a conversation I’d had with a member of the cast back in 1973/4. She was a heroin addict who’d been miraculously healed of her addiction when she met Jesus. She sang the key song in the musical inviting Jesus  to come into her life and transform her. 

She told me how she had been going through an awful time of self doubt and doubting in God. So much so that she felt she had to leave the cast and find another way in life. However, she couldn’t just drop out with no notice so continued to sing about an experience she was struggling to believe in. 

One night she began to sing ‘Come, Jesus, Come, show me your way, your truth and your life’ raising her right arm towards heaven as she sang. She looked at her arm which a short while ago had been covered with needle tracks from heroine injections but was now clean. She told me how in that moment she experienced again all that God had done for her and was overwhelmed by the love of Jesus.

That memory triggered in me a whole series of flashbacks of how Jesus had shown his love for me and used me in so many ways through the years that I’ve been following him. As I write this it sounds quite rational and linear. I experienced it as a sobbing, incoherent mess. I sat in the hall as others went for lunch, drying my eyes then bursting into tears again. Now at a profound level, I know that I’m in the right place, with the power I need to be who God needs me to be and do what God needs me to do. The human affirmation the night before had been good, the encounter with Jesus literally blew my mind. The superman suit finally fits!

Prophetic encounters like this reach way deeper than rational argument and make profound changes at the level of the spirit - in time that filters through into rational thought and action, but for me lasting change begins with spirit and emotion.

Earlier in the morning, I shared a dream that I might be as passionate in the office as I am in the pulpit. 

Watch this space!!!

Holy Club 33

Is Christ real to me?

Good Friday seems like the right day to ask this question!

It's ironic to wake up this morning to the news that the Americans have dropped the 'Mother Of All Bombs' on Afghanistan - perpetuating the myth that killing your enemies ends conflict.

The good Friday message is that dying for your enemies defeats evil. It was unbelievable then and after 2000 years of Christianity is still counter-intuitive. It seems logical that evil should be overpowered not 'over-loved', but the Easter message is that love wins, not power.

The big picture is straightforward to understand, living in good Friday mode is much harder. I automatically want to win arguments and fight those who are 'wrong'.

Jesus chose to surrender to evil and to forgive. To do the same demands huge courage.

Bible passage to meditate on Luke 23:32-46

Holy Club 32

Can I be trusted?

I find it's often in the little things that my trustworthiness (or not) is revealed. It's taking pride in the little things that says a lot about us. I'm not a detail person so I need to work hard on this one.

The Holy Club focused on the Holy Communion very regularly, so it seems appropriate to look at this on Maunday Thursday.

The Fresh Expressions movement has rediscovered something important about the Last Supper that traditional churches often miss - it was actually a meal not just a crumb of bread and a sip of (in Methodist Churches non-alchoholic) wine. Relationships change when we eat together - they get stronger and deeper.

Of course the Last Supper was not just any supper - it was a passover meal. Jesus took a meal which is all about remembering and transformed it. 

In a traditional passover meal, its the youngest boy who asks 'Why are we doing this?' (Actually a more structured set of questions but that's the gist of it.) It's the head of the house who explains the mighty acts of God in choosing and then saving Israel as his special people. The escape from Egypt is followed by 40 years in the wilderness because God's chosen people didn't have the courage to trust him.

Like many Jewish celebrations its a home-based thing - it's not about going to church/synagogue. A good reminder that the family is an important place for sharing and building faith.

In the Christian celebration we remember that God set us free, but we remember too that Jesus gave his life for us.

If God's way of saving us is about serving and sacrifice, then our way of following must be about serving and sacrifice too.

Bible passage to meditate on: John 17:20-26

Holy Club 31

Do I grumble or complain constantly?

I'm tempted to reply - only when I'm awake! The old hymn 'count your blessings' offers a better way. Do you naturally look for the good and give thanks or look for the bad to have a grumble? My natural inclination is the second - I have to work hard at not being a grumbler.

As we go through Holy Week, there's lots that defies easy explanation, which brings us back to the Holy Club practice of reading the mystic writers together.

They instinctively understood that reason and explanation are important, but can never do all that we need to be Christians. 

We will never fully understand the atonement - the meaning of the death of Jesus. The great theologians give us pointers, but none of them can offer a complete explanation. The death of Jesus is something that we need to enter into, not just think about. The resurrection is in one sense profoundly unbelievable - until we experience it, then its life changing.

The Holy Club consciously sought out an experience of God that would help them to believe in the salvation that Jesus won for us on the cross. Often that experience comes when we meet with others and unite our faith until we have enough.

The Primitive Methodists in the nineteenth century talked about 'getting in faith' not something we work ourselves up to, but something God gives us by his grace.

My hope this Easter is that once again, I'll not just read about and sing about the resurrection, but enter into it as I experience the risen Christ.

Bible passage to meditate on: Matthew 28:16-20

Holy Club 30

Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?

It's easy to think about what others ought to do when relationships are not as they should be. Its also often unhelpful to apportion blame. The Holy Club question rightly focuses on what will I do about it.

How can I take a positive step to restore a relationship that's been damaged - even (or especially?) when I'm the one in the right.

If I'm in the wrong (and I often am!), I have to get over defensiveness and self-justification before I can put things right.

If I'm the one being wronged, I need to get over hurt and self-righteousness before I can be the one making the first step to put things right.

Holy week is full of stories of people failing Jesus:

Judas the betrayer

The disciples sleeping when Jesus needed them most

Peter denying

Soldiers wrongly arresting him

The priests falsifying evidence

A cowardly judge handing down an unjust sentence 

All these make Jesus words from the cross: 'Father, forgive them' unbelievable.

Jesus sets the example, may we find from him the grace to follow it.

Bible passage to meditate on: Luke 6:27-36