multiple sclerosis

The man whose funeral I conducted today had MS.

He'd left a will and in the will the only request he'd made in regard to the funeral service was the choice of reading. He'd chosen Ecclesiastes 12.1-8.

When they mentioned the choice of reading to me, his family weren't that sure they'd got it right. But it seemed to me from the start to be pretty clear.

The man had MS, remember. And this is the passage he chose (I combined the NIV with The Message, and a line from the KJV) -

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, "I find no pleasure in them"-

Before your vision dims and the world blurs and the winter years keep you close to the fire. Before your body no longer serves you so well, and your muscles slacken, your grip weakens, your joints stiffen, and the shades are pulled down on the world.

You can't come and go at will. Things grind to a halt. The hum of the household fades away. You are wakened now by bird-song.

Hikes to the mountains are a thing of the past. Even a stroll down the road has its terrors.

Your hair turns apple-blossom white, adorning a fragile and impotent matchstick body.

Yes, you're well on your way to eternal rest, while your friends make plans for your funeral.

Life, lovely while it lasts, is soon over. Life as we know it, precious and beautiful, ends. The body is put back in the same ground it came from. The spirit returns to God, who first breathed it.

"Vanity! Vanity!" says the Teacher. "All is vanity!"

Except I explained as I read the passage that the Hebrew translated 'Vanity' could as well be translated 'Frustration'.

Frustration! Frustration! Everything is frustration.

I guess that puts it pretty well. What life felt like for this man.

The guy was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis when only 28. He died aged 63.

You can do the maths yourself.

For more than half his years he suffered from this cruel, debilitating illness which slowly, surely wrapped its suffocating tentacles around his life, depriving him progressively of all he held most dear.

So I can well understand why he wanted this passage read. What's it like to live your life like that? Frustration sums the whole thing up.

No wonder he wanted to say to folk -

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come.

Because sooner or later, in one form or another, the troubles will certainly come. To us all.

And it's always a whole load easier to have rooted your life in Christ before the troubles come.

Pitching your tent in a storm is kind of hard. I tried that once.

I was doing some walking on the island of Skye, in amongst the Cuillins. The weather's pretty unpredictable there. And the wind can get up right out of the blue.

And it did. A raging storm. And I was due to be camping that night.

I tried to pitch the tent. A hopeless task. Absolutely hopeless.

Don't try pitching your tent in a raging storm. Get it done before the storm sets in. It's a whole load easier. Believe me.

That's what this guy was saying, I guess, in choosing the reading he did.

Get sorted with God before the storms set in. Because once the storm's set in, once the wind is raging, it's hard to pitch your tent.

That's what I'm trying to tell folk to do all the time.

Now is the time to get sorted with God.

Zechariah

The prophet Zechariah gets referred to as one of the 'minor prophets'.

Which is a polite way of saying that he's one of those prophets whose book in the Old Testament is sufficiently small that it can be awkward trying to find it.

You'll know the feeling, if you've ever been trying to look up a reading being taken from one of these books. Fumbling through the pages and wondering why you can't seem to track this particular prophet down.

Actually Zechariah is not that 'minor' in any sense at all. The book that bears his name has more chapters than the book of Daniel, for instance, and Daniel usually gets classed as one of the 'major prophets'.

It's a bit like the English Premier League, with the so-called 'big four', and then .. well, the rest.

There's a kind of 'big four' with the prophets of the Old Testament as well. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. And then the twelve 'minor' prophets.

Which is all a bit unfair, as I say. Not least since a guy like Zechariah had plainly worked his socks off doing the business and had quite a lot of messages typed up. So to speak.

A bit unfair not only because of the volume of stuff that he wrote, but also because it's important stuff as well.

As I believe God means us to find out for ourselves across these coming weeks.

It's difficult to put my finger on exactly how it's come about, but the Lord has been laying on my heart for a while this book of Zechariah. 'Preach it,' he seemed to be saying again and again. Zechariah. Zechariah.

Which I've not been inclined to do. The so-called 'minor prophets' are not the easiest bit of the Bible to preach. And Zechariah .. well, he can be harder than most.

I mean, I know there are some classic purple passages in his book. A verse or two here and a verse or two there. I could cope with that.

But the book as a whole? Well, I kind of shy away from that a bit.

Anyway, I've been wrestling a bit with the Lord over this for a while. And we've done a deal. I'll preach through the first 8 chapters of the book and see how it goes. He seems to be happy with that.

(There's a natural, obvious break, I should add, at the end of chapter 8, so it's not an entirely arbitrary line that I've drawn).

There are things that I'm sure the Lord is intent on saying to us at the start of this coming year. And they're all there in this book that Zechariah penned. I can see how timely a word from the Lord his messages are. For us. Here. And now.

But it's meant there's a lot of reading to do, a lot of hard graft in gaining a full understanding of what this guy is on about. And I've spent a bit of time today doing that.

We've been trying for a while to get down in writing ourselves a statement of what God's vision for us is. And now, at the start of the year, we're keen to be sharing that vision with all of God's people here.

So I've been trying as well to see just how that sharing of our vision will relate to what we're reading in the book of Zechariah.

In some ways they're unlikely partners - this ancient, 'minor' (sometimes quite obscure), old Hebrew prophet and our 21st century, up-to-the-moment statement of the vision God has given us.

But, strangely, they're not that remote from each other.

Well, not even that strange really. God doesn't change. His gospel doesn't change. His purpose doesn't change.

Zechariah was a 'post-exilic' prophet. He preached the other side of a line that was drawn in Israel's story.

He was a 'post' man. And that's pretty much us as well.

Post-modern. Post-Christian.

We live in a day where a line has already been crossed.

And we need to hear again the word of God that this old prophet brings.

clutter

I'm a great fan of Eugene Peterson. He's the one whose translation of the Bible goes under the title 'The Message'.

This morning I came across this again in one of his books. It's a timely challenge to much of the way our lives are lived.

We cultivate the resurrection life not by adding something to our lives but by denouncing the frenetic ego life, clearing out the cultural and religious clutter, turning our backs on what we commonly summarise as "the world, the flesh, and the Devil."

Our lives are too busy and our schedules are too busy and our churches, which are supposed to be our allies in this business, are far, far too busy.

Those who go in for 'New Year resolutions' might find some useful raw material there on which to get to work!

when angels come knocking

There were people to see yesterday.

One of our members had died. A bit before Christmas.

This was the first real chance I'd had to see his daughter and son about the funeral this week.

It's not been an easy time for them. Their father had MS for the past 35 years. He was 63 when he died. You can do the maths yourself. Most of his life he's been living with this illness. More and more dependent on the help that others give. Less and less able to be doing the things he enjoyed.

There must be a load of mixed emotions which are churning around in their hearts at this time.

There are mixed emotions, as well, I'd think, for some other folk I saw. Facing up to change within their lives. Change that's been prompted by the Lord.

Quite radical change. And only coming about because the Lord has been making it clear to the folk involved that this is what he's calling for just now.

In chatting the whole thing through again (it's been on the go for a good few months and we've talked it through before), it became clear that the Christmas morning family service, a few days back, had been one further confirmation of the path they're called to walk.

You have to understand that the Christmas morning service is generally fairly chaotic. I mean, it's Christmas Day and the children are there from zero up and half of them haven't slept since about 4 o'clock in the morning and they're tired and excited and running around with their toys out front and .. well, you get the picture.

It's not the ideal scenario for delivering a clear word from the Lord. And it's certainly not the ideal sort of context for a proper hearing of a word like that from God.

Mary's experience was our starting point. You know the bit, where the angel Gabriel comes knocking at her door and interrupts her teenage dreams. Pretty abruptly.

Lesson number one. The word of God is disturbing.

Mary was troubled by the greeting. Pleasant though the greeting was. She hadn't asked for angelic visitations. At least, she (or Luke, who's telling the story) is keeping very quiet about it if she had. She hadn't asked for it, or expected it.

But that doesn't stop the Lord from speaking his word right into our lives. And often quite abruptly. With little by way of warning.

So good old Gabriel starts to explain. It's something pretty big that Mary finds herself being called to undertake. Like bringing no less than the Son of God into our world.

I don't know what sort of reaction the angel expected. What he got was a question.

Lesson number two. The way of God is perplexing.

The folk I was seeing are discovering that. It's very perplexing. How? Why? Where?

Questions, questions, questions. It's not always easy to suss out the Lord. What he says seems to fly in the face of the reason we often employ. Reason which tends to make us fairly cautious and to keep us fairly safe.

It's not quite the reason the Lord employs. He uses 'wisdom'. And his wisdom is rather a scary thing. He dares to think .. well, the unthinkable.

I guess the angel Gabriel is used to the sort of reaction which Mary has. "How can this be?"

So he has his answer ready for the girl. He sees that the way she's looking at things, yes, there's obviously a problem. But he explains that she's still got to factor in the work of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit coming upon a person rather changes everything. Factor that in and your whole perspective is changed. Everything becomes possible.

Except he puts it the other way round. Nothing is impossible with God.

Which is fine, I suppose. By and large we're happy with that as a doctrine.

It's just that the whole thing becomes rather scary when the Holy Spirit gets factored into our living and that truth becomes the bedrock of the way we live our lives.

The goalposts get shifted.

And all of a sudden we're involved in something hugely and radically different. The Lord starts calling us out of our so-called 'comfort zones' and into the kingdom of God.

The angel explained it persuasively. Mary was up for it all.

Lesson number three. The will of God is fulfilling.

She saw that.

However disturbing, however disruptive of all that I've planned for my future his word may be; however perplexing, however confusing the path that he calls me to walk may appear - to follow that path, to respond in obedience and faith .. well, that's where true fulfilment always lies.

"May it be to me as you have said."

Good on the girl.

And now this all gets taken away from being just another Christmas message. It becomes the word of God all over again, disturbing the life of a counterpart to Mary in our congregation's life.

Hugely different circumstances, certainly.

But the Lord addressing his word all over again, disrupting, disturbing, calling a person out into something radically new.

No one is safe when the Lord is at work like this!

Be warned.

Be ready.

Be quick to respond as Mary did.

May it be to me as you have said.

Lord, I'm up for whatever you're calling me to. Count me in.

moment of opportunity

The day before Christmas is always busy!

And the 6 o'clock service for all of the family is always both full and fun. There are loads of folk there who aren't much around other times.

It's a great occasion. A rapid-fire half-hour celebration in which we sing and talk our way through the heart of the Christmas story.

There was much to be encouraged about. So many little signs of God at work.

But this in particular.

I mentioned a few posts back the person who's been burdened by the Lord to start a time of basic Bible study at her work. In chatting it through, we'd thought it would be good to give the thing a run through week-by-week when we meet as a sort of fellowship group.

And in thinking of that it seemed to me an ideal opportunity to invite the next door neighbour of the couple in whose home we meet to come along as well. A time-bound commitment, a chance to work through a gospel, and the sense as well that he'd actually be doing a favour in affording a kind of 'trial run'.

'Now is the time' wrote Paul in one of his letters. And, yes, there are those moments of opportunity in an individual's life. We had the sense that the Spirit of God was saying that this is one such moment.

Well, the man and his family were out at the service tonight. And on leaving he said he'd be coming along.

A wonderful, wonderful gift at this Christmas time from the Lord!

christmas poem

I came across this poem today. Well, yesterday technically, I realise as I look at the clock!

Something rather different and a helpful aid, perhaps, to reflecting on Christmas.

The Story Did Not Start
with a Stable and a Star

by Virginia Knowles

The story did not start
with a stable and a star
But in the beginning,
before billygoats on boulders
or bluebirds in birch trees

The Trinity, the Three-In-One:
Father, Spirit, Son

Viewed a vast void
with a venturesome vision

And lo, this Lavish LORD said,
“Let there be…”

And there was Light
and Life and Love

Tigers and tiger lilies
and tiger sharks

Amoebas and ants,
aardvarks and apple trees,

Honeysuckle and honeybees
and heavenly hallelujahs

For it was good:
this grand garden,

green and growing,
glorious and glowing

With two to tend Eden:
Adam and Eve

Masterpieces made
to multiply more masterpieces
in the image of their Maker

Working and walking with Him,
worshiping Him
for the wonder of His wisdom

But then came a choice
and a cheater and a chilling challenge

They rebelled and rejected
and ruined their Royal Relationship

In punishment,
pushed out from Paradise
into pain and peril, perishing

Generation after generation

Mankind multiplied moral messes

The Spirit sometimes seized sinners
into the Sovereign Sacred Story

Prodding prophets, priests,
and preachers to proclaim:

“Repent! Return!
Revere! Renew!”

And so the Father sent his Son

And seers sought this Saviour from afar

But the story did not stop
with a stable and a star

The little Lord Jesus,
who lay there so lowly,
lived his life

This Great God-With-Us
grew in graceHe,

the Holy One,
who helped and healed

Preached and prayed
and praised His Father

This Lord of Love
looked high and low
to liberate the lost

This consecrated Christ
carried His cross

He was crucified in His courage
by our cowardice

Thus our Prophet-Priest
paid the penalty price
for our Paradise

His ransom rescues rebels

from ruinFreeing those
who by faith will fully follow

Generation after generation

Multiplying more miracles
among mortals

For the Spirit
of the Sovereign Sacred Story

Still seizes sinners
and sanctifies saints

And our Royal Redeemer
shall return:

Holy is He!
Hark the heavenly hallelujahs!

For it is good
and God is glorious!

Earth shall end
and eternity shall start

And the story of the Saviour
shall always speak to the heart.

Christmas is a big story!

christmas

Yesterday, tucked inside a Christmas card I received, was an envelope with another card.

The sender remembered a Christmas, now years in the past, when I'd turned up at their door with money to help them out when they'd been in pretty dire straits.

I'd forgotten, I have to say, until this card came in: then I remembered well enough.

"I'm now in a position to pass that gift on," the person wrote: "you will no doubt be able to pass it on, too. It's a true saying - 'the Lord will provide.'"

Inside was a sizeable sum of cash.

I was humbled to think the person had always remembered that act of simple kindness long ago: and had always acknowledged the kind, providing hand of God in the gift that had been given.

And humbled as well to see how the person was keen to ensure that someone else would also now see God at work providing for their needs.

As for me, I felt a bit like piggy in the middle. It's quite a responsibility to pass such sums of money on.

It happens quite a bit. From time to time all sorts of folk very quietly slip an envelope into my hands requesting that I pass it on to someone in some need.

How do you go about a thing like that? Well, you don't get taught these things at college, that's for sure. At least, you weren't when I was there.

I adopt a very straightforward approach and presume two basic things -

1) there's an immediate need which the Lord means the gift to address. I'm not going to be waiting days. It's been given now, so the need must also be now.

2) the Lord will direct me clearly to the person whose needs should be met by this gift.

That's how it usually works. Today was no different. I was asking the Lord this morning to show me how to use this gift of money: who was the person in need.

And out of the blue, there's someone who pitches up at the halls today. Unexpected in many ways. Unplanned.

And as I'm seeing and speaking today with this person, it's soon as plain as daylight that the Lord is saying simply - 'this is who it's for.'

I know the person's situation and I know there'll be a need. I know just what a gift like this will mean.

So as the person's leaving I slipped a little envelope into the person's hand: I think the person thought it was a Christmas card, or something of that sort. I said this was a little gift from God.

A little bit later I got a text message on my phone - "I am too overcome to phone you: your kindness is too much. We thank you so, so much. Your friendship means so much."

The person is seeing the hand of God at work. The Lord providing for all their needs in very striking ways.

I wrote to the person who'd sent the money and quoted what Paul once said.

"This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

"Because of the service by which you prove yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.

"And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift."

Paul was talking about Jesus there. God's 'indescribable gift'.

In fact, he's really on about Christmas, and the way in which Christmas gets into our lives and our lives become the story of Christmas all over again.

"You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich."

Christmas. Jesus enriching us beyond all measure.

Christmas isn't a story. It's a way of life.

A way of life which builds an amazing momentum of grace and changes people's lives.

I love Christmas!

birth and death

There'll be withdrawal symptoms after today!

This morning saw me along once again at the Royal High for the last of the Christmas assemblies. This time the first year pupils. The Rector did her bit first of all, then I spoke aboout the wise men and the distance they were prepared to travel.

The pupils were remarkably quiet and well-behaved. First year pupils, last full day of term, Christmas week, and snow falling outside - the mix was there for a riot! But no, they listened well and gave me their full attention.

Mind you, they may have been a bit intimidated by the crowd of 'suits' today. The Rector had invited a host of other 'dignitaries' along (FPs and the like) to share in the occasion and then to have a coffee in the Board Room afterwards.

So I was there for a good deal longer than normal. Enjoying the coffee and chat. And meeting what may well be the only supporter of Falkirk FC in the whole of the school!

This is a week when a lot of preparation must be done at the front of the week. Thursday brings a couple of extra services, Friday we have our Christmas Day service (and the rest of the day is out so far as preparation is concerned), and before you can blink your way through boxing day ... it's Sunday again.

So If I'm not all organised by Thursday afternoon I'm in trouble! It's a short week.

I've tried to get down to some of that today. But I've been out and about as well with people to see.

One of our members died. And another's really pretty much at the end of her earthly life. I was in to the Nursing Home again to see her and one of her two daughters who was there.

Both her daughters have their birthdays this week, one either side of Christmas Day itself. And their mother's not likely to last the week.

Their births: her death.

Birth and death alike finding their centre around Christmas Day. There's a lesson for us all in that.

The Child who was born would live with the shadow of his comng death cast back across each day. And by that death which he would die he opened up the way to life for all who'll trust in him.

Birth and death.

His birth: and our birth into newness of life

His death: and our death in him to that old way of life.

It's my prayer that Christmas will mark for many a new beginning.

Copenhagen

Twelve days of meeting in Copenhagen will soon be at an end.

It sounds like it may be a case of too little too late.

Yesterday I had an e-mail from a (frazzled - on her own admission) Franny Armstrong, producer of The Age of Stupid.

This was her take on how things have gone -

With just one day to go here in Copenhagen, the deal is on target to commit us all to a 3.9 degree temperature rise - which would equate to something like:
- Africa uninhabitable
- Southern Europe a desert
- Australian agricultural system wiped out
- All coral reefs gone
- Most forests gone

The world leaders are now starting to arrive - 120 of them are expected, which would be their biggest-ever get-together - and have certainly got their work cut out if they're going to shift things to the extent that's needed to avoid disaster.

Someone was saying today that most folk have got it all wrong. They think that all this talk of a 2 degree rise is not too bad a thing.

They think it's like a picnic on a nice fine day, when the temperature goes up by a couple of degrees. I mean, who's going to complain too much about that?

But in fact it's much more like your body temperature going up by a couple of degrees. And staying that way.

You won't last long. You'll die.

For those who, for any reason at all, have the welfare of this planet on their hearts, these are crucial days.

how silently

No post here yesterday.

The time disappeared. Not least because of lengthy conversations on the telephone with -

(a) the branch of the bank where I hold my account:

no, they couldn't do anything about my overdraft, without authorisation from the on-line fraud people - they couldn't be sure without such authorisation that my ringing up was not an attempt on my part to defraud them. ...

I asked them how I could be sure that the people I'd rung to address the fraud were actually not part of the fraud itself: good question, they answered (I'd meant it just as a joke!).

(b) the bank's fraud specialists:

they want to scour my computer for this virus that's infected it: they're good at their job and run all sorts of tests while I sit at my desk and twiddle my thumbs and watch them move the cursor all over the place from what conceivably is the other side of the world.

Chris is the name of the guy who's doing this for me and with me: he doesn't sound like he's from over the other side of the world (but then maybe that's all part of the fraud - you can see how suspicious the whole thing's already left me!).

Before too long I feel like Chris is a friend whom I've known for years. First name terms always helps of course. And there's a certain (thoroughly un-Christian) pleasure in watching the way he ruthlessly goes about tracking down this evil virus which has swiped such sizeable sums from my bank account.

(c) our own IT specialists:

they're wanting to do their own tests and scans and checks: I'm having a sort of three-way conversation as the bank's own fraud guys are telling me that only maybe 1 in 40 of the anti-virus software can detect a virus like this, and they're wanting to know what the virus scan has shown up.

I feel a bit like piggy-in-the-middle, and a bystander in this process. It's a bit like having surgery done on your innards while you're still awake and watching it all taking place. They're going right into the 'guts' of my poor laptop, which plainly doesn't know what's hit it.

All that on top of everything else which yesterday held.

Which included the lunch-time service where the passage on which I was preaching referred to folk who found themsleves in "extreme poverty". The Lord has a sense of humour!

But yesterday has long since gone. And today's followed a pretty similar fashion.

My long-standing friend (of one day's duration) Chris has been on the phone again, moving my cursor around and doing his IT 'cleansing of the temple' stuff. I feel like a leper who's just been pronounced 'clean' by the fraud squad priests.

All of that has really just been a side-show, though. A regular little reminder that I still exist in a cyberspace world.

Most of the day's been with people.

Along at the Royal High again in the morning. This time the S3 year group (we're working down the years with the 'climax' coming on Monday when we reach the S1s).

Straight from there to the service here which the local primary school are holding. Not quite the whole school, but P3-7: so the place is mobbed. Parents and grannies and grandpas are there, and all sorts of others, too.

Celebrating Christmas. It's good and traditional stuff. Not the made up 'fluff' which down the years has simply taken over.

Five traditional Christmas hymns. Readings from the Bible to tell the Christmas story. The P7s doing the 'rap' they learned last week (and excelling themsleves again). And a chance for me to speak in pretty clear terms about what Christmas is really all about.

It's a great occasion and pupils and parents alike seem to enjoy it all.

Some of the staff are in for a coffee afterwards. There's a buzz about the place. A bit like Bethlehem must have been when Jesus was born.

Because in among all of the noise and the chat, God has pitched up and there are things going on in the lives of some of the people there which are little short of miracle.

Not seen or noticed by most of the folk. But wonderful to behold. Hard-seeming folk are opening up and pouring their hearts out in pain. Letting God in to their lives.

How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given! So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven. No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.

It was like that here this morning. Christmas was happening all over again. And most folk didn't notice. The Lord is very discreet.

How silently the wondrous gift is given.

The afternoon and evening saw a switch to the other end of the age spectrum.

The Tor is a local nursing home, run very much as a distinctively Christian place: they have two regular weekly services there, on a Sunday and a Thursday, and from time to time I'm asked to lead the service.

It's a short, half hour service, with 3 or 4 singings of old, familiar hymns (which most of them could sing in their sleep: some of them probably are asleep, of course!), a couple of prayers and a reading from Scripture with a short exposition thereafter.

It's a lovely time always. The singing varies, and some of the time it feels like I'm singing a solo: the responses vary as well - from those who've remained asleep, through those who've fallen asleep to those who are very appreciative ("what a nice man..", "what a tall man..", "what a good word..", and "thank you").

We've a couple of folk resident there in the home so I pop in and see them as well (they haven't made it to the service). They're looked after well and always glad to see me. And me them. I've known them for years and they were always so faithful, prayerful and kind.

There'd been a call through the day in regard to a lady, well on in her years, who was failing quite fast.

She's out in another nursing home, and I learned that her daughter, whom I'd tried a few times to contact, is there at the home with her mother. I called out there at night and shared for a while in her daughters' patient vigil at her side.

There's another lady there, in the same part of the home, who's shared in our life very fully for many a year, but is now pretty much restricted to the home. I took the chance to see her, too, though by then it was getting late (at least, in her sort of daily routine).

Another day goes by. And I'm thinking, how busy everyone is at this time of year. Including myself.

Just like Bethlehem was.

And just like it was at Bethlehem, long, long ago, all silent and unseen the living God's pitched up and is wonderfully at work in many people's lives.

on the charge

No two days are the same. For which I'm very grateful.

Here's how this one went.

I'm out of the house at 6.30am or so. There are two lots of soup to be made, and I'm due at the school for half past eight, so I'm keen to get them up and on the go. It's a Christmas special today, so there's chicken broth and another concoction loosely based around carrots and broccoli, but 'spiced up' with a few other seasonal oddities.

It's the fifth and sixth years I'm speaking to at the Royal High at the first of the morning assemblies this week.

It goes quite well, and (I learn later on) they're still talking about it at break-time. Probably because I likened a group of teenagers who're prepared to trust in the Lord to what's called a 'crash' of rhinos - and added that it wasn't just because teenagers are usually 'horny'.

Rhinos have limited vision, they can't see beyond some 30 feet in front of them. But it doesn't prevent them charging out. And ... well, you can see why the collective name for a group of rhinos is a 'crash'.

We can't see the future either. Our vision is limited too. Mary and Joseph were teenagers, too, and couldn't foresee the future. Other than that it was going to be rather different from what they'd planned. But it didn't prevent them at all from moving on and out into the purposes of God.

Back here the guy who devised our database is in to check the computers. I'm no longer able to access as I once could do an updated version of our database.

He needs to be at my computer, so I've got a pretty good excuse to be out with the group of ladies who're in here every Tuesday for their coffee, tea and scones. We chat as we generally do.

I'm in and out of the office all morning, when my desk is free. There's loads of preparation still to do, and I'm not getting any long run at it now - which is what I had figured yesterday and why I did so much then.

My grand-daughter's here for lunch. With her Dad and Mum as well, of course! With her beautiful blue eyes, her lovely features, and such a contented look, she wraps all the folk right round her little finger. Including me! I'm long since besotted!

More folk to see in the afternoon. A time of prayer as well.

And then I discover I'm the victim of daylight robbery. I check (as I regularly do) my on-line bank account and find that since last I used the thing on Friday someone's gone and helped themselves to a tidy little fortune. Which has not done my balance any good at all!

So I call the bank and after touring the world (probably!) to get to the right group of people who deal with this on-line fraud, and disclosing (in short secure chunks) what seems like half my life story to them, to verify that I am who I claim to be, I've set in motion (I hope) a process which will see the sum being refunded to my account.

Meanwhile, I ask, what about my overdraft (and more to the point the fees that I'm going to be charged for being overdrawn)?

For that, I'm told, I'll have to sort something out with my own local branch. I call them. They're not answering. Presumably because they're closed for the day (24 hour banking doesn't apply at the local level, for reasons I entirely understand). I'll have to ring in the morning.

I contact our IT experts. They're still on the go. They start running the virus checks and doing all sorts of important sounding things which make me feel like I'm caught up in a crucial episode of 'Spooks' and that the health of the nation depends on what's being done.

'Spyware' and stuff like that.

At night I'm out delivering Christmas cards around the streets nearby. I call on most of the doors, and over the years have got to know a good many of the folk - to speak to at least.

Third door in and the lady of the house invites me in.

"My husband usually invites you in, doesn't he?" she asks at the door.

"Yes," I reply, "he's always been most hospitable."

I've got to know him a bit down the years. Mainly on the surface. But before I'm barely inside the door his wife has disclosed that the man has terminal cancer.

He was given something between 1 and 100 days to live back in August. He's doing pretty well. My maths isn't great, but I'm figuring off the top of my head he's topped the best prognosis.

He looks not too bad, though he's plainly tired and weaker than once he was. There's an urgency now in what I'm here to say. Given that the guy is on borrowed time, it's a chance to speak about what it is that Christmas is really about.

Jesus. His birth, yes, but that was only the start. His death: and then his resurrection too.

That's where our only hope lies, I'm telling the man.

I don't stay long - he's tired and I don't want to push it at all: but I ask if I might pray and he and his wife are glad to be commended thus to the Lord. I'll plan to be back.

It puts things in perspective. On-line fraud is a minor thing compared with the ultimate issues of life.

There are other homes, too, later on, where I'm welcomed in.

It's late by the time that I'm back. Later by far than I'd planned.

And still some phone calls to make.

But these are days when the Lord's at work. And though, like the rhinos, I can't see all that the future will hold, I'm on the charge.

And it feels like the Lord's on a roll!

deep breathing

This has been the day when I've effectively taken a huge deep breath.

A bit lke a diver who's got to hold his breath for a good long while.

Or a kind of spiritual Phillips Idowu, preparing himself for the sprint up the track to the board from which he leaps to do his triple jump.

Eleven days out from Christmas, I'm doing the rocking back and forth, getting the rhythm going and taking in air, getting myself all set for my own little version of that long run up the track to the triple jump.

There are five school assemblies along at the Royal High, starting tomorrow morning. They all need a lot of careful planning.

A different talk each day, pitched just right, punchy and brief yet getting the message across.

There's the usual Wednesday lunch-time service as well - but with a seasonal, Christmas flavour this time: and our sharing in the breaking of bread as well. Praise, preaching, prayer, and communion - all in a brief half-hour. Easier said than planned.

On Thursday we've got the primary school along, en bloc, to the church for their Christmas service. Another great opportunity for sharing the good news of God.

But a lot of preparation too. Not just in terms pf the message I'll give: but in terms of the powerpoint presentation as well, the visual side of things, from beginning to end. The songs they'll all be singing, the talk: and the Christmas rap which we taught the Primary 7s!

Thursday afternoon I've a service to take along at one of the nursing homes where some of our folk now are.

It's great that they hold these services there and I'm glad to play my part. But I should maybe have fixed on a different day, or at least a different time of year! More preparation for that.

And then there are the coming Sunday services: this week with a Christmas flavour. And I can't do that without thinking ahead to the services through next week as well. Christmas Eve (at 6pm and 11.30pm) and Christmas Day: and then, before you can blink, the next Sunday too has come round!

I make that about 14 different messages to bring: over the next 12 or 13 days. Without (as they say on the radio game 'Just a minute') - without repetition, hesitation, or deviation.

It's a good job there's so much to be said about this remarkable birth to which we still look back!

But I need a good long, concentrated run at this, to do the basic planning. And I set aside today (in the main) for that.

I love this time of year, I have to say.

And I always think it's wonderful how many different opportunities there are to speak about the amazing gift God has given. But, as I say, I've long since learned that this sort of 'triple-jumping' requires that I plan in advance to take that deep breath.

Our 'fellowship group' met again tonight as well. That was pretty exciting, too.

One of the folk is starting an 8 part course on the whole of Luke's gospel for the people she works with each day.

That's quite an undertaking!

Everything about it is quite an undertaking. Starting a group like that at your place of work is quite a big thing. Being prepared to lead it when you haven't a clue who'll pitch up is a bit of a challenge as well. And packing the whole of Luke's gospel into 8 short half-our sessions ... well, some would say you were mad to even think of it!

In fact, it's not that daft. You start at Christmas and end at Easter - which is pretty much what Luke does too. You don't ask folk for a massive commitment of time: 8 fortnightly lunchtimes.

And you divide the whole of the gospel into 8 neat 'units'. Which is not that hard to do. And then you simply try and figure out what the basic lesson the whole of the 'unit' conveys, and see which manageable section of text encapsulates that lesson.

It's not as crazy as it maybe sounds! You should try it yourself and see.

Anyway, we applied ourselves to tackling that tonight. As a group. Since the first of these sessions is due to take place in a matter of two days' time!

The first three chapters form the first of the 'units' and we settled on the story of the shepherds at the birth of Jesus as the passage they would read.

We're also thinking about doing this ourselves and inviting others in - for a similar 8-part course, running in tandem with that taking place at the person's place of work.

As a sort of 'dummy run' prior to the real thing there: and as a short crash course on the gospel of Luke for friends who are just on the fringe and merely sort of thinking about it still.

So at the end of the day I'm up to my ears in Christmas!

Ready to go, like Phillips Idowu and those of his ilk.

No wonder one of the pictures that's used to describe the person who's following Jesus is that of the athlete!

It's tough on the knees, the triple jump.

And if I'm going to hit the deck running, and soar through these days by the power of the Spirit of God, it's going to be tough on my knees as well.

Prayer's as much a part of the preparation process as anything else.

As an old Puritan by the name of John Owen once famously said - “What an individual is in secret, on his knees before God, that he is and no more.”

We forget that at our peril.

up for it

Another day that's been full to overflowing!

The children of P7 from the local school were along here this morning for what turned out to be more of a two-hour session than the scheduled 90 minutes. But the teachers were not in the least concerned!

We cover 'Christmas' with the children in a range of different inter-active ways. The children are great - really well-behaved and an absolute joy to be working with. Good fun, polite, interested - just really pleasant youngsters. And they make it great for everyone.

The feedback was good as well from the 'evaluation forms' we have to hand out and take in. Here are some of the comments from the teaching staff -

"The children thoroughly enjoyed the workshops."

"As always a fantastic morning of workshops for the children. .. Thanks again for a wonderful morning."

"The children were exhilerated."

Some of the team were probably exhausted by the end, but it was a great morning: and our prayer is simply that the children's enjoyment of Christmas should only be increased, byt being able to see what the whole thing is really about.

Jesus.

He brings peace. Wholeness. Fulness. Peace.

I was out seeing a person this afternoon who's not been enjoying such peace. I'll not go into the details at all, but suffice it to say it was striking to see how the Lord's pleased to work in and through our day by day lives.

I felt led to direct this person to a particular passage of Scripture. I talked it through and explained just what it was, it seemed to me, the Lord was calling the person to do. In terms of the Scripture passage.

How to enjoy the peace that Jesus brings. Philippians 4.

And then the person came back to declare that a very good friend who pastors her had also been giving her that same reading exactly. How wonderful the way the Lord works to make his point and to drive home his word to a person's heart in their need.

It's great being involved in all that the Lord is doing and watching the Master at work!

I was out at night as well. First at a leaders' meeting for those involved on a Sunday night with the senior pupils at school. And then to call by on a friend who's been led by the Lord to embark on a sort of Bible class at her place of work.

The Lord has laid this burden on her heart and now has opened up the way for this to happen.

Amazing!

And given her the framework for the thing as well. The whole thing excites me no end, the hand of the Lord is so clearly upon it all. The possibilities are endless when he's at the heart of it all.

So I was round to help her think through just how she should be going about it.

This is a person who's relatively new to the faith. Going with the flow of the Spirit of God, wherever he leads, whatever that leading involves. And up for it all.

What a thrill to see such steady, godly growth in a person who's come to faith. And to see the way the Lord himself equips and enables, emboldens and inspires such a person who's ready to respond to his call with obedience.

As the rap for the children declared -

check it out, huh, see what it's worth,

what you gonna do 'bout the miracle birth?

That's hardly going to challenge Shakespeare for literary brilliance. But it makes the point.

Something wonderful happened with the birth of the Son of God.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, is as good an example as any.

I'm up for it all, she declared.

And when the Lord finds folk today who are up for it all ... well, there's no end to what he will do.

death by dialogue

From time to time I come across pieces that others have written, which are so insightful and incisive that they're worth sharing more broadly.

Today I was struck by such a piece of writing and I share it with you now.

It's quite long, I must warn you. But it's more than a little relevant to our contemporary situation, and it says in a way that is really very telling what I suppose a lot of us have sensed, but couldn't quite put our finger on.

See what you think.

Kevin DeYoung is Senior Pastor at University Reformed Church (part of the Reformed Church in America [RCA]) in some place I've never heard of in Michigan. The guy writes prolifically!

Here's what he wrote back in early May of this year. It's called 'Death by Dialogue' and it's remarkably close to the bone.

A Little History

The RCA has consistently affirmed that homosexual behavior is sinful. In 1978 the General Synod approved a paper entitled “Homosexuality: A Biblical and Theological Appraisal.” The paper was not perfect, but it did make statements like “Paul’s rejection of homosexual activity is beyond question” and “we cannot affirm homosexual behavior.”

In 1990 the General Synod adopted R-11: “To adopt as the position of the Reformed Church in America that the practicing homosexual lifestyle in contrary to scripture, while at the same time encouraging love and sensitivity towards such persons as fellow human beings.”

In 1995 the General Synod approved that a faithful summary of the RCA position on homosexuality includes, among other statements, that “Homosexual behavior is not God’s intended expression of sexuality.”

In 2004 the General Synod adopted R-92: “To affirm that marriage is properly defined as the union of one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others.”

And in 2005, in an unprecedented trial before the whole General Synod, three charges were heard against a Minister/Professor of Theology who had performed a “wedding” ceremony for his lesbian daughter. The charges were upheld by a 2-1 margin and Synod voted to depose Rev. Dr. Kansfield as a Professor of Theology and suspend him as a Minister of Word and Sacrament.

But the issue of homosexuality in the RCA has not gone away. Following the 2005 General Synod, the denomination entered into a three year process of dialogue. In 2006 there was confusion and some consternation about who would provide supervision and pastoral care for Rev. Dr. Kansfield. In 2007 controversy erupted again when the woman chosen to preach three times at Synod was found to be an outspoken advocate of gay marriage. This June, the General Synod will gather for its annual meeting and get a report from the dialogue coordinator and steering committee.

The Conversation to Nowhere

In one sense the dialogue report doesn’t do much, at least not on an official level. But the longer we dialogue around an issue, the more legitimacy is given to both sides of the issue. The report bears this out. The report reads, in part:

The dialogue also worked in the sense that it revealed the great complexity of RCA members’ views on homosexuality. Widely scattered views emerged as the steering committee and coordinator listened to the ways in which RCA members talked about homosexuality and about their lives in the church. These many views were treated as “voices” within the RCA that are speaking, as it were, around a table, concerning homosexuality and church life.

Additionally, the dialogue succeeded in the sense that it equipped participants to engage each other more sensitively and charitably on future issues that may threaten to be divisive. A dialogue experience yields a set of skills that the church can use, perhaps primarily at the local-church level, whenever an emotionally loaded issue must be addressed.

In the matter of homosexuality, no consensus emerged among RCA members as a result of the dialogue program. Therefore no policy recommendations to the General Synod appear in this report. The church’s ability to handle its deliberations regarding homosexuality has improved, at least among those who participated in the dialogue’s events. This ability was among the purposes which the General Synod Council (GSC) specified when it authorized the program in 2005.

Notice how dialogue has served to undermine the frequently states position of the RCA.

Several times over several years, the RCA has affirmed that marriage is between a man and a woman. True, there is a sizeable minority that disagrees with this stance.

But now through dialogue the majority opinion has been marginalized as just another voice at the table.

The point of dialogue in mainline denominations is never to decide anything, but rather to share stories and “perspectives”. The process of dialogue predetermines its outcome. There will be no resolution, except the resolution not to resolve anything. The “can’t we all just get along” crowd always wins in this kind of dialogue.

Thus: “The dialogue coordinator and steering committee recommend that the General Synod postpone further policy deliberations regarding homosexuality and that the materials developed in this program be made available in appropriate form for future use by the church.”

Several overtures to Synod this year urge a similar approach: to refrain from any legislative and policy decisions and instead to engage in further dialogue. Dialogue, the reports argues, “does not yield policy decisions—except in the instance in which a consensus emerges from the dialogue process.” And as you might imagine, “In the matter of homosexuality, no consensus emerged in the RCA as it engaged in the dialogue program.”

Here’s how it usually happens in mainline denominations: a biblical position regarding homosexuality is on the books, it gets reaffirmed several times even as opposition to it grows, the opposition party is not the majority but they are loud so everyone decides to talk things over for a few years, it is discovered (surprise!) that people don’t agree on the issue, then more dialogue, then those opposed to the official denominational position ask for tolerance or for everyone to “trust the system” of checks and balances, the “system” at the local level refuses to uphold the denominational position, more pleas for everyone to get along and not let this “secondary” issue divide us, more deviation from the official position, further dialogue, official tolerance for the unofficial position, conservatives are labeled as divisive, judgmental troublemakers, a call for denomination wide healing is made, followed by urgent pleas to move on to more important matters, and finally people move on feeling glad this “difficult chapter in our life together” is over, the official position–whether officially or unofficially–is no more.

Three’s a Crowd

What everyone needs to see is that there are three positions on homosexuality any given denomination can take: 1) Homosexual behavior is sinful. 2) Homosexual behavior is to be celebrated. 3) We can allow for both positions. Denominations never get to 2 except by going first to 3. If people in the RCA had to vote between 1 and 2, I’m convinced two-thirds would vote for 1.

But what happens is that position 3 gets advertised as they sane, wise, loving, above-the-fray position perfectly positioned between two extremes. Conservatives lose their resolve, get tired of fighting, and get cow-towed into thinking “Maybe this doesn’t really matter. Maybe we should just get on with church planting. Why not keep talking about this for another three years?”

Postponing hard decisions always feels good, but it not always best. My hope and prayer is that the RCA will reject any recommendations for more dialogue and quickly (perhaps voting on something definitive at the next General Synod) give constitutional permanence and weight to the previous actions of Synod.

At the very least, I hope the RCA will stop hesitating among three opinions. If the denomination is to ever move on from this issue, a firm decision needs to be made. I say, make it soon and make it clear. Then give everyone grace to decide if the RCA still feels like home.