gone away?

"We've had 6 deaths, 5 have gone away."

I was out at Kirkliston tonight for a meeting of the leaders there. And the guy who deals with the roll of members was giving his report.

It was the way he said it that made it sound remarkable.

6 dead, 5 gone away. I wondered what happened to the other one! Where is he now?

Our message is a bit like that. This one man, Jesus, simply will not go away. Even if you nail him to a cross and dump him, once he's done for there, in a tomb.

Dead? You'd think so, after all the guy's been through.

But gone away? No chance. He's still very much around.

Risen from the dead. Alive. At work.

That's the bottom line in all I seek to do. If that's not true, if Jesus isn't really still around, then I'm well and truly done for and I'm wasting all my time.

If he's not there I've had it. Simple as that.

My life is built on this reality. That though he died, he hasn't gone away. He rose again.

I rely on him for everything.

People think it's pretty much a dawdle for me standing out the front and teaching folk the Bible as I do. But I couldn't do that without him.

I wouldn't know what to say. I'm not a 'natural' speaker. It wouldn't work.

So every day, I'm starting from the premise that he hasn't gone away. He's there.

Like the lunchtime service today. I needed him there for that.

When I say that I prepare for a time like that (and it took up most of the morning), I mean that I'm having to get it from him.

When I say that I spent some time giving thought to the message for Sunday morning coming, I mean that I'm having to toss the thing over with him.

I love these lunchtime services. But I love them most of all because I recognise he's there. He hasn't gone away.

I think I'd die if he did. It's that basic.

A lot of the time I'm trying to establish just what it is that he's doing. I want to be where the action is, and the action's where he is. I don't want to go away from him.

So this afternoon I was meeting with folk in regard to the life of the church in this whole larger part of the city. The whole North West of the city.

It gets called 'North West Churches Together'. Except it's not really.

It's really 'North West Churches (of Scotland) Together'. Which is subtly different.

And maybe enough of a difference to completely miss the point. At least, if this guy Jesus isn't there.

Because I don't think he is really into denominational life. I think he kind of walks away from that. It smacks too much of empire-building.

And I think that brings back painful memories for him. Since it was the troops of the Roman Empire who got him nailed to that dreadful cross.

So if he's not really into the whole denominational thing, where is he - and what is he doing - in this whole part of the city? That was the sort of thing we were tossing around this afternoon.

At length.

And we needed him there for that of course, as well!

He once spent some time with a couple of folk as they walked back home from Jerusalem. They were trying to figure things out, a bit like we were, I guess.

He said to them after a little while - "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart...". Like he doesn't mince his words or anything. He tells you as it is.

Sometimes I think we're pretty much the same. As the folk he spoke to, I mean. A little bit foolish: and a little bit slow on the uptake.

It isn't always easy to suss the whole thing out. So half the time, I guess we're lagging behind. Playing catch-up a bit.

He hasn't gone away. He's simply gone ahead.

I, for one, don't ever want to let him out of my 'sight'!