Friday, November 06, 2009
Origins & Lemons, Riding Lights at Christ Church
Right from the off we were in the midst of the science vs. religion debate. Each short sketch covering one or more of the points of the debate. Each with a punch line, and next to no gap between sketches. There is barely time to laugh, let alone think seriously about the points being made. While we don't have too many fundamentalists, or too many liberals, I had wondered just what the target of the debate would be.
In the introduction the song oranges and lemons was used to ask the questions. We were promised a look at all of Genesis 1-11 - except perhaps the bits were relatives are listed. At various time we were in a school room, or on the Ark with Captain Noah and his crew - Ham, Shem and Japheth, in IKEA or in the garden of Eden with Adam and God, Adam and Eve, Eve and a snake, Adam and Eve and a bouncer. All good stuff and often very funny. I had read reviews that suggested there was a Monty Python'ish flavour. There certainly was when we came to the Nephilim. Arguments among the cast, blackouts, and multiple attempts by the Nephilim to get some nookie! This was by far the funniest sketch of the evening. We ended with Noah sharing his home-made wines with Darwin.
Riding Lights as always are brilliant and never to be missed.
Get a flavour of it here:
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Error 1606: Could not access network location %APPDATA%
The first one was Adobe Reader - the auto update has failed - nothing new there, it often does. I'll downloaded the new version. Firefox doesn't start - no messages - nothing. Same for opera, same for Safari. IE works. I get the new version of Adobe Reader from my Standard User account. There Firefox and everything else works a treat. That's a relief. Back on the Administration account I try to move some files, as I'm planning to delete the account. I can make a 'New Folder' in Public, but renaming does nothing. The command line will create the named directory, but then the drag and drop of files does nothing.
After some very inconclusive web research, I decided to try the spare Administration Account. It's been created, but never used, so it creates a desktop and takes ages. The registry is clean though, and the installations are working.
So, I'll delete the old Administration Account. After all the usual permissions are granted, it just sits there as though I'd not even clicked the button. I try again, the decide to wait for disk activity to cease. You can grow a beard waiting for that. Eventually a message - "Windows cannot delete the Logged on account".
The old Administrator account has gone, but the top level folder is left, under that there is \AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player. Well there's a surprise, I've just applied some update from Microsoft to media player - could this be the culprit?
There is a file there - CurrentDatabase_360.wmdb, which I cannot delete, because it is in use by another program. Time for a restart and safe mode.
Safe Mode though doesn't start up cleanly. The dialogue never completes and I'm left with a '98 style start button in the left hand bottom corner, and a mouse pointer with the circle indicating 'wait for vista'. Ctrl-Alt-Del, task manager, new task, cmd.exe. At LAST I have control of my machine, and can delete the file. I use the command line 'shutdown /s' to stop the machine. During that process the proper @SAFE MODE' screen flashes up briefly. The old Administration Account is gone, logged on to the spare I create a new one. My installs are complete.
I'm assuming that this was registry corruption - it reminded me of a problem in Windows '95 where one user suddenly had control of everybody's desktop. Whatever changes were done there happened everywhere.
Is it too much to ask that Windows 7 might just WORK?
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Do not be decieved - Colossians 2:1-5
Deception
Paul is worried. He is struggling for the believers at Collosae and Laodicea. There are some new ideas being spoken about. They are questioning Christ's divinity. We have already heard the message that Paul gave a couple of weeks back – The Supremacy of Christ.Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Col 1:16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
Col 1:17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
Paul has a battle on his hands, and he is not free to come and fight it.
Paul considered himself the apostle to the Gentiles. Today he might be the bishop of a very large diocese. He cares deeply for all those that God has placed under his care. He does not want them to be deceived. He wants them to understand the full nature of Christ – or at least as much of it as they are capable of.
In Colossae there were suggestions that the only way to salvation was through secret knowledge. These people also denied that Jesus was God. The belief is known as Gnosticism. Its secrets, and therefore salvation are only available to those they are passed on to.
Paul is very worried that some of the Colossians may be deceived and cease to be believing Christians.
There are many things that can deceive us – as human beings we a fascinated by the strange and unusual and are drawn to them. Our senses are also limited, so what we think we see isn't always what we do see.
Try these:
Optical illusions
http://www.optillusions.com/
Those of course are just carefully designed tricks. They do not do us any harm, either physically or spiritually.. There are deceits that do harm us though.
Any suggestions?
[Get a list]
fortune telling
palm reading
tarot cards
horoscopes
astrology
ouji boards
clairvoyant – even fake ones like 'The Mentalist'
black and white magic
witchcraft
tea-leaf readings
seances
communication with people who have died or passed on.
When Saul visited witch of Endor she brought Samuel back to speak to him. Samuel was not at all pleased, and God was furious.
These things can be dangerous – whether you are a Christian or not. There are other things that deceive us also. They may be a lot less obvious, but they take away from us our faith in Christ Jesus. They deny is some way or another the Supremacy of Christ.
Some of these messages are almost subliminal
- Its OK to shop on Sunday, instead of worshipping with your fellow Christians. Or play football, or whatever it is you do instead of joining together with Christs body.
- It is not OK, once you have made the decision. I once knew a man whose archery club met on Sunday mornings. The after a long struggle he gave his life to Christ. But the archery was too great a draw on Sundays. With no connection to the church he may be lost forever.
- It doesn't matter how I behave outside church. If your general behaviour at work and in the home isn't the same as you behaviour at church there is a problem.
- It's OK not to talk about your faith. We're English, so we don't talk about God or politics in polite conversation. These things are private. Do you believe? Or not? Did Christ change your life – how is it possible not to talk about it.
- The odd little white lie can never do any harm, and it will make life so much easier.
We all do thee things from time-to-time, but we must be ready to acknowledge it as sinful, and repent
Here is another more obvious attack, but it is still a danger to us:
"There probably isn't a God, so stop worrying about it and enjoy your lives." - (Slogan on London Buses)
There is much that could be said, but this is just one slogan, so I'll keep it short.
- this is minimalist rationalism. If I can't see it, I can't believe in it. There is more in heaven and hell than can be found in this philosophy. We have a rational God – He created an ordered universe so that we can use our gifts and abilities to make sense of the world around us. He also used the rational ordered world to make himself hidden, so that people would have to search for him. He is so much more than purely rational, as are his creation.
- This isn't faith, its the opposite. Heb 11:1 says:Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
- It doesn't even state a case.
- … but it's clever … we're very used to assuming probability means the actual thing. Jack Sparrow, After describing his amazing escape from the military in Pirates of the Caribbean is told “That's impossible” to which he replies “Not Impossible, Love... Just Improbable"
- It implies that working out whether there's a God isn't worth the effort. It appeals to our selfishness 'enjoy your life'.
Mystery
My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.Paul talks of mysteries of God, and makes his readers aware that the mysteries are all revealed in Christ. He is writing like this because the people he is writing to are being enticed by the promise of revealed mysteries. Christ is a mystery to the gentiles (not the Jews), that has now been revealed. There is no longer a mystery of salvation. We do not need anything else. Belief in Jesus, his death and resurrection is all that it takes. Even so, God, and therefore Christ is still a puzzle to us.
Isaiah 55:8-9 God Says
Isa 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.
Isa 55:9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
We find him difficult to understand, but if you really want to know you will have to put some effort in, because Jesus promises us that we can be his friends
Jn 15:14. - You are my friends if you do what I command.
Most of us like a good puzzle to solve, especially when there is a prize at the end, and Paul promises treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
When Solomon was asked what gift he would like he asked for wisdom
1Ki 3:5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
1Ki 3:9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”
1Ki 3:10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this.
1Ki 3:12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.
Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge.
Knowledge tells us that a tomato is a fruit,
Wisdom says: don't put tomatoes in a fruit salad
Treasure
[Introduce the treasure chest. Ask what is in it?
Get some Ideas – from the children]
Remove the Bible, and ask why anyone would keep a Bible in a treasure chest.
We know what Paul wrote the the Colossians because someone - probably many people valued the letter enough to keep it, and have copies made of it. These would have circulated amongst the early Christians. It is likely that copies would have kept and used in their worship meetings. Our Bible is made up of many of these writings that have been passed down from one generation to the next
Many learned people have spent a considerable amount of time deciding which of these are the best records of what happened.
We now have a permanent record of some of the things that Jesus and his followers said and did.
Today is Bible Sunday. We are reminded that the new testament was written over 1800 years ago.
The world was very different then, and it can be hard for us to understand some of what is said. There is no hope of knowing what was happening in the world back then in any detail. People though don't change. God does not change. The messages in the Bible that we can understand are clear.
It is God's word to the world.
If we are to find the treasures that Paul is talking about we must first find Jesus. The first place we find Jesus is in the Bible. There are very few other documents that make reference to him, and none others that contain any of his teaching. If we are to really know Jesus we must be immersed in His word, and His Spirit.
So, if you think back to the start of the service, you will remember that Margaret was trying to shelter from the rain, instead of possibly getting soaked. Instead of protecting ourselves from the word, or allowing us to be diverted away from it, should be ready to put down the umbrella and get soaked. Soaked in Gods word, and his love for us.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Getting it wrong (Mark 10:35-45)
Getting it wrong
The Gadget show even used the format to test movie cameras
World upside down
Jesus call on James and John
Jesus call on us
Cleaning the building is a form of outreach. People who come through the door notice how well you take care of God’s things. It says your faith is dynamic enough that you care even for the simplest of issues.
- Work in the Nursery - Changing nappies on new couple’s baby isn’t just about changing nappies. It’s potentially changing eternity for their entire family.
- A simple thing like regular attendance: Do you realize that when someone new comes into this building and sees it packed with worshippers, that says something to them:
- AND WHEN you take the time to get to know people’s names, to introduce yourself to newcomers, to invite them to various activities, you continue to add to the atmosphere that draws people into your church. On the everybody welcome course at Christ Church we heard stories of the welcome that some of the congregation had received on their first visit. Most of them said that the welcome they received was important to them coming back for a second visit, then a third, …
- Serving Coffee, provides yourself and others the opportunity to welcome people, to support them, to get to know them, perhaps to pray with them, to make them feel part of the family..
Sunday, October 11, 2009
A New Friendship - Philippians 2:19-30
Introduction
Genuine Love
Paul
Timothy
Epaphroditus
Paul's Friends
Common Interests
- a love of God, and the love of God
- a desire to be more like Jesus than they currently are
- a commandment to share what they have in God with the rest of the world.
- they are more than sharing an interested
- they provide unparalleled closeness
- there is greater trust, security and openness
- powerful
- 'a main course of life's banquet'
- enriching
- rewarding
- emotionally restoring
Common Vision
Risks and Battles
Conclusion
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
The Cell
Adam is a real enthusiast for his topic. This has its drawbacks. He is so amazed and enthralled by what he sees, and refuses to touch ("these are Darwin's original books, I don't feel I can touch them"), that by the third program its starting to wear a bit thin.
The second program dealt with what's inside the cell and taught me a lot about biology that I wasn't too clear on. Some of the historic TV clips I recognised, and this was a good way of showing how quickly this particular branch of science has progressed.
The third program was more disturbing. Now we are at the stage of producing diesel from modified bacteria, and cloning sheep and long horn cattle. The promise of what can be done with cells is endless - a new dawn in science. It is clear from the presenter that there is no limit to what is permissible to us. Adams article in the Guardian makes that quite clear. There are so many benefits to be had.
The questions posed by these capabilities are more serious that those posed by the nuclear revolution. If the planet had been destroyed by the first nuclear explosion (and the scientists weren't that sure it wouldn't be - but went ahead) there would have been a few seconds of extreme suffering and that would be that. The potential for error, mistake, or malice in the biological field is enormous. What will be the biological equivalent of Chernobyl?
Every science and technology has had its disasters. This topic was completely over looked. No dangers were even mentioned.
This was a major failing of the series and left me feeling quite scared that we put our trust in such people - Adam is a scientist as well as a presenter.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Josiah and the purification of Israel
Introduction - Time Line
It is 700-600 years before Christ. In Britain the Iron Age is just starting, a couple of hundred years after the rest of Europe. In Israel the Kings have abandoned the God of their father Abraham, and are worshipping the Gods of the surrounding peoples. Israel is under the control of the Assyrian empire. In the middle of the century the Assyrian king is old and the empire is weak. Soon the Babylonians will take over the whole region, but when Josiah was king the Babylonians were only the subject of prophesies.
| Year (BCE) | Age | References | Details |
640 | 8 | 2 Ch 34:1 | Josiah is made king after the murder of his father Amon and the murder of the conspirators. Amon is counted in the top 5 worst kings of Israel. He had been king for 2 years. Manesseh, Josiah's Grandfather was also a bad king, but at least humbled himself before God. |
| 633-2 | 16 | 2 Ch 34:3 | Josiah began to seek God |
629-8 | 20 | 2 Ch 34:3 | Begins the purge of Judah. The country is cleared of Idols and cultic practices. Covers the whole Assyrian province of Israel. All of Judah, the southern kingdom, and some of Israel, the Northern Kingdom. |
626 | Jeremiah begins to prophesy – destruction and desolation (caused by Amon) | ||
629-6 | Jer 6:22-24 Zeph 1:12 | Scythian invaders (raiders) from the north cause instability in the region. | |
622-?? | 36 | 2 Ch 34:8-18 | Starts repairs to the temple The book of the Law is found (Deuteronomy +other writings) Passover party |
609 | 2 Ch 35:20-24 2 Ki 23:29-30 | Josiah picks a fight with Neco II of Egypt. The battle takes place at Esdraelon, and Josiah is mortally wounded. |
Josiah - Situation and Story
As a Child
What must it have been like for Josiah to be made King at the age of only eight years. There would surely have been guardians to look after him, but we cannot tell who they were, or where they came from. No-one allows free reign to an eight year old.
Whoever they were they had done an excellent job of bringing him up. Josiah became known as one of the very best Kings Israel had ever seen. At the age of sixteen Josiah began to seek Yahweh. Our God is one who promises that those who seek him will find him. It was as true for Josiah as it is for us.
At the age of twenty Josiah was ready. Still only a young man, but by now his own man, he decided that it was time to act.
In human terms the time was right. The Assyrian overlords were weak, and their king was dying. They were distracted by attacks from the north. In Yahweh's terms the time was right. So the purification of the nation of Israel began.
The Asherah poles were removed from the temple. An Asherah pole is the figure of the Goddess carved out of a tree trunk, or sometimes just a tree selected and dedicated to the Goddess. Imagine it, the objects of foreign Gods in the temple, it's like having a carving of Shiva in the Cathedral at Canterbury. Its unthinkable to us, but it had been the case for generations in Israel.
There were worse things than carvings and alters to remove. There were also male prostitutes in the temple. They were part of the system of the worship of Asherah, and I have no intention of describing that.
Purifying the Nation
Josiah was not only concerned with purifying the temple, he wanted to purify the nation. Beyond the temple there were other practices he put and end to – including the practice of child sacrifice.
2Ki 23:10 He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.
To be certain that there was no residue of worship for the gods Asherah and Baal, Josiah killed all their priests, and had their bones burnt. He smashed their alters and had the stone deposited where it was not worth retrieving. He ground up their carvings to powder so they could not be reconstructed or repaired. All evidence of the transgressions of the Israelites from previous generations were removed.
Of course Josiah didn't travel around the country personally vandalising shrines and smashing alters. Most of the destruction was carried out by the High priest Hilkiah and his fellow priests.
Once the alters, prostitutes, pole and shrines had been removed Josiah set about repairing Solomon's temple (the first temple). It had been allowed to decay and had not been looked after.
It took Josiah a long time to purify his country although the account in Chronicles doesn't make that very obvious.
Rewards
There were rewards to be had. As part of the reconstruction of the temple the book of the law was found. Only at this point did Josiah realise just how far the Israelites had moved away from Yahweh. He tore his cloths as a sign of how he felt, and decided that the passover should be celebrated properly. What happened next makes Scrouge's celebration of Christmas look pathetic. The passover was celebrated at the right time, and in a way that honoured God. The King personally provided many of the animals needed for sacrifice.
Much of the land was recovered – almost as much as David had.
Purity lead to a revival in Israel.
Purification
Purity is something we value. It is certainly one of the things that make people buy mineral water.
Water
Mineral water is probably one of the purest things you can buy.
Calcium 9
Magnesium 2
Potassium 2
Sodium 8
Bicarbonate 22
Chloride 11
Sulphate 8
Nitrate 5
Total 67
Dry Residue @ 180C 180
PH at source 6.4
Of course that's just the mineral breakdown, it doesn't tell you what else might be in the water to contaminate it. Only about one third of the dry residue is accounted for by the minerals (67 of 180). Many of the poor people of the world suffer because their water isn't pure, its contaminated with disease or other biological matter. Many would argue that the water you get from your tap is purer, because the standards set for biological purity in this country are much higher for tap water than bottled water.
you cannot get pure water quickly. Wikipedia tells us that
In general the methods used include physical process such as filtration and sedimentation, biological processes such as slow sand filters or activated sludge, chemical process such as flocculation and chlorination and the use of electromagnetic radiation such as ultraviolet light.
Getting pure gold is even harder
To extract gold from pyrite compounds, they are sometimes treated in a proprietary chlorine process. The roasted pyrites are moistened with water and impregnated with chlorine gas. Gold chloride is then leached out with water, and the gold is precipitated by reduction with ferrous sulphate or solid charcoal. Bromine water is sometimes used instead of chlorine.
There are some very nasty Chemicals involved in that process, it is dirty and dangerous, but what it yields is amazing.
Getting pure people is harder still.
First of all the person has to want to be purified. As we have already seen purification is not a simple quick process. I hope we have also seen that it is worth all the trouble. It certainly was for Josiah and the Israelites. It is for us too – pure water is one of the most important things for living a healthy life.
A pure person in the Bible is often referred to by the expression 'pure heart' meaning to us that the core of your personality – whatever makes you who you really are, is the part that is affected.
Psalm 51:10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Only once we like Josiah are truly seeking God will any purification be possible.
So, when you pray the prayer in Psalm 51:10, what is likely to happen?
Well, unless it becomes a regular prayer – so that it is something that you really want, then probably very little. If it is you prayer – the prayer you have inside for your life then little by little, and with some difficult struggles things will start to change.
Everyone Pure
Imagine for a moment that the whole of Christendom really prayed that prayer. That everyone wanted a pure heart. That everyone wanted to put Jesus first in their life. The personal relationship with Jesus was the first and foremost thing. That nobody who came to church and claimed to be a believer really came because their friends were there, or their job was there, or it got them away from their grumpy spouse for a couple of hours a week.
No, we all have our relationship with Jesus as our main motivation. That means when we get to church our conversation – that exiting buzz that occurs before the service – all of that will be about how we have struggled to do God's work in the community of the people we meet every day. Or the astounding successes that God has given us.
We would all have a strong sense of justice and of love. We would all stop being in the slightest bit selfish. We would consider others greater than ourselves (Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. ) We would all be prepared to help each other with our daily tasks. We would readily share the things we have. When we had borrowed something from someone else we would treat it as a prize possession and return it. And return it in a better state than it was when we borrowed it, because we would be concerned that the next person to borrow it had a good experience. Our change of attitude to each other would soon be noticed. People outside would talk about us, they would see how we are different.
Some of them will become infected with our ideas. Many more than usual will want to know what's going on. They will come looking. Some will still reject Jesus, but most will be amazed at what He has done and the effect that it has, and they will be only too happy to join in.
It's called revival, and it's similar to what happened in Josiah's time. If you want revival – and it's there freely available, start with yourself.
Imagine the whole world following on.
If there are strikes they are so that others receive better pay
Care Workers and Missionaries are paid more than bankers
The Fair trade organisation is out of business – there is no unfair trade.
I could go on, but we need to look at how we get there.
So you want to be like Josiah
So you have prayed the prayer, and you do so every day. The holy spirit will begin to convict you of certain sins. I cannot tell you what the sins will be in your case, but I can give you an example in my life. Even during the preparation of this talk. There I was, sitting at my PC playing one of the facebook games. Not at all focussed on the task in hand. You see I'm quite competitive, and was trying to get a good score in before any of my friends. The competitive trait is what got me through training, so its not a bad thing. Anyway Jo said "you're doing a lot on your sermon then" quite sarcastically. My reply was rather rude and doesn't bear repeating. God has graciously used the situation – one that I shouldn't have got myself into – to illustrate exactly what He is saying. When we are convicted of a sin (anything that takes our primary focus away from God is a sin), we must repent and turn from it. It must be removed from our lives completely, so that it does not have any further call on us. My score 2:
overly competitive – remove the scores from the facebook feeds, so I'm not tempted to try to beat them so frequently.
being rude – much harder to overcome, but also much rarer thankfully. Apologise, repent and move on.
Jesus said “if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.” Matthew 18:9
Josiah crushed the idols, and burnt the priests bones – it sounds a bit extreme – but if you want to be sure that the sin does not return, it is the only thing to do. It is said of Josiah that no king tried harder to fulfil all the requirements of the law.
A Christian friend of mine once went through a book and blacked out all the offending phrases in the book. At the time I was stunned – it sounded very over the top -, but now I understand. If it was causing him to sin, then it must be removed – completely.
You wouldn't drink water with only 95% of the Cholera removed would you?
You wouldn't buy gold that was mixed with other metals, if you were expecting 24 carat gold, would you?
Little by little the purification proceeds for some of us it will be faster than for others. As we realise a sin or a temptation and struggle to overcome it we become closer to the Lord Jesus. The holy Spirit will graciously point out our sins and turn them to victories Something to give thanks for, and a launch pad to deal with next one. Our love for or brothers and sisters in Christ will increase and we are on the path to revival.