Origins & Lemons, Riding Lights at Christ Church

As I walked into church I was greeted enthusiastically by my ever so slightly sarcastic daughter.  "May I take your ticket, sir?"  The church was already filling up, and was full of the warm red glow that we get with all the overhead radiant fires on.  I must be careful where I sit, or my head will be grilled.  Forced to sit in the back half because the front was already full, I chose a centre seat near the aisle.  Some one big immediately sat in front of me, but it didn't matter. At the front of church at raised stage took the Riding Lights Theatre Company players high enough to be easily seen.  We were promised a review sub-titled extracting the juice from Genesis 1-11.

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:

Jewish Roots of our faith at Christ Church – 26 January 2008

Michael Cohen, former Rector of Jerusalem and worker with CMJ, spent his Saturday teaching us about our heritage. Over 90 people attended this all-day teaching event at Christ Church. Every single one of them got great value for whatever donation they made to the retiring collection.

One of Michaels favourite stories is about visiting schools and asking the children how many times they think Jesus went to church. I'd love to hear some of the answers. The point is, of course, that Jesus NEVER went to church. I'd like to see the faces when they were told that also! Jesus was a Jew, born in Bethlehem during the Roman occupation of the area some 2000 years ago. How much do you know about the world of those days. Well for my part, I knew a little about the Romans, but almost nothing about the Jews.

How can I possibly understand the stories about Jesus in the Bible properly unless I have some idea of the culture of the Jews, and their expectations. Michael has such a different perspective, but about the same fundamental events and beliefs. I had heard Michael before, so knew what to look forward to – and I was not disappointed. His teachings add another dimension to understanding Jesus, and therefore help us in our quest to become closer to Him.

That's where this day provided so much input. In the section on History we learnt, among many other things, that the country we now call Israel has only had this title for a small percentage of the time since Joshua claimed the land God had promised to the descendants of Abraham. Even in King David's time land occupied was not as large as the area promised by God.

We looked at some of the complexities of the families that descended from Abraham, and how the various people of the area came to be what they are today. The history of the events of last century, and even further back have shaped the political landscape in particular ways, and given groups of people different views about their rights and expectations.

Jesus did not come to found a church, but to reform Judaism. We saw that God is still working through the Jews and land of Israel. We looked at the future and found that our destiny is bound up with what happens in that land and to that people.

The teaching of the Rabbi's on the Messiah is fascinating, and quite a difficult subject to get in to. Some of it is quite unbelievable, but there is much that is interesting. We looked at the prophesies in scripture and saw how Jesus fulfils the majority of them. Those that aren't fulfilled relate to the Messiah's return.

The day was intense, and the breaks between sessions highly valued – a time to evaluate some of the things that had been heard. I have many pages of notes, which represent only a small fraction of the notes I could have taken (and should have taken). Christ Church has the powerpoint slides that Michael used, and the sessions have all been recorded. We are planning to produce a CD from the day. A number of people have already asked for one.

Too Busy not to Pray (Slowing down to be with God)

Bill Hybels
Inter-Varsity Press
ISBN: 0-85111-329-X

I read this book as part of the preparation for the week of prayer at Christ Church. Our vicar Warner recommended it. The back cover overview starts "Why should we pray? How can we when we are so busy?". Thats covers some of the reasons why I wanted to read it. Others include the questions of technique - just exactly WHAT can you do that will help you engage with God. The clue to this is in the sub-title, of course. I also wanted to know about hearing God's word. Many years ago I read "Listening to God" and found it very helpful. Applying some of the suggestions in here improved my prayer life, but over a period of time things get stale, thats how I am (and how most people are , I think). So its is good to find a book that addresses things slightly differently, and allows us to take a new approach. Bill starts his book with three chapters about God. What you understand about God, and how much you really believe it will have an impact not only on how you pray, by also on your motivation to pray at all. Then there are some techniques, based around the ACTS acronym - Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. Bill recognises that we will not simple jump into a new way of praying and find that it works brilliantly, he suggests that practice is required. I agree.

The book ends with some discussion on listening to God, and evaluating what you hear - to be sure that the source of the message is indeed the Holy Spirit, and not just our own internal cravings, or something much worse. As a pastor of many years understanding, he has some good examples to share. They may well make you think of some "What if I'd .." situations in your past.

As a way to improve or perhaps establish your personal prayer life this is a useful read. I am currently trying some of his suggestions to see how they work for me. Everyone, is of course different, but most of us aren't THAT different, so its likely there will be something useful for most people.

Liverpool Nativity

The first thing I thought of was the Manchester Passion from last year, and immediately I started to compare things in my memory. With Liverpool being the European Capital of Culture next year (2008) I suppose they had to do something. This was again screened on BBC3 and put the Nativity into a modern setting. A sleazy, power drunk city official as Herod (Herodius - a woman), an asylum seeker as Joseph, homeless people as shepherds and so on.

I applaud anything that tells the story of Christ in any way, who can know what a modern version will trigger in modern people minds, or what the Holy Spirit can use to spark thoughts. So this is no exception, thanks to the BBC and the people of Liverpool for the presentation. In Christmas television terms this is a really good start to Christmas.

There were for me some problems with the adaption. The timescale from the visit of the angel Gabriel, through to the pregnancy beginning to show, and then on to the birth appear to cover just a few days. There was no sense of time passing, no journey for the couple to make. This took the edge off what the couple must have felt and experienced, and left you wondering about why the birth story is so important. Then there was the usual problem of the Magi at the manger (a supermarket trolley - that was a nice touch. I'll go into Tesco tomorrow and ask for a manger!) which is not really supported by scripture.

There was certainly no shirking the acknowledgment that Jesus was the saviour of the world, and a revolutionary, but the inclusion of Imagine, with the line 'imagine there no heaven ...' when we had just been presented with Gabriel as the commentator was a little strange. Where do people think angels come from I wonder?

There is also the small criticism of many of the players, who were off-key, not sufficiently amplified, and unsure of their lines in some cases.

The verdict has to be positive though, it was good to see, and better to hear it had excellent ratings. "BBC3's ambitious attempt to re-create a modern day nativity on the streets of Liverpool was rewarded with more than 700,000 viewers last night." Follow the link to read more.

What next? London to host a pre-construction of the apocalypse - before or after the 2012 olympics?

The Puzzle of Evil

The Puzzle of Evil
Peter Vardy
Harper Collins
ISBN 0-00-627638-5

Why does the good God of Christian belief let evil exist?

That's the question this book sets out to answer. If God really is omnipotent, omniscient, and all loving, how is it possible that there is so much evil? Well that's the simple version of the question, Peter takes the first chapter to examine exactly what the question is really, and the understanding of God we need to make it a valid question. We then take a look at the beliefs of Augustine and Aquinas. In the first few hundred year of the church the understanding of who God is developed quickly, and the core ideas settled. These two church fathers played an important part in establishing our tradition, and their ideas rightly receive careful examination. Then there are a few chapters discussing the free will defence – God had to give us free will, so that we could love Him. Love cannot be 'programmed in' – a robot cannot love. It really isn't that simple though.. Then natural evil – disease and disasters are examined – what effect do they have on the view of why there is evil in the world – they can't be caused by humans – or can they? Finally, in the first half of the book the questions “Is it all worth it?” is examined.

The second half of the book concentrates on the type of world we live in, the type of creatures we are, the type of God we have, Job, the devil, and how the moral framework and the beliefs we have hold all these things together.

This is not an easy subject, the greatest minds in history have puzzled over it, and have not come to a straight forward conclusion, let alone one that satisfies many of us in today's world, with the holocaust, the killing fields, and the tsunami all still fresh in our corporate consciousness. There are others too – the abduction and molestation of small children, and suicide bombings to name just two.

If you have the time, and the space for a relatively short book (205 pages), to set the scene and outline the arguments, then this will prove a good investment. For me it required some serious thought, and the arguments are still challenging. No doubt they will be for you as well. Peter Vardy has made a good attempt to help us into this difficult subject.

Why men hate going to church

Why Men Hate Going to Church

David Murrow
Nelson Books
ISBN 0-7852-6038-2

Almost any church you walk into, any Sunday service, any church committee, you will notice the gender gap. There are more women than men. Is this just the way of things? Are women just naturally more religious than men? If you think that's unlikely, but don't understand why and want to know mote, then this is the book for you. David starts by looking at Masculinity, and then at some more detailed categories of people who are not attending church. Did you know that the church is also lacking young women? Then he uses lots of statistics to prove the point. All of these are American, but look at the numbers and think of the churches you know. It begins to make sense. Now you're hooked. You have to read on to find out what can be done about this situation. Having explained his background, he move on to make some suggestions as to what might need to change. If you can remember back before the feminist movement, and see how things are different now, you'll get the idea, or part of it at least. If not you'll have to read the book and see how the church 'thermostat' as he calls it can be set in a more comfortable way for men.

I read this book while preparing for a training course I will be running shortly on reaching men. These ideas are not so much about reaching, as about keeping. There's no point in reaching men, having them commit their lives to Christ, only to leave the church in six months. So I will cover both – to some extent anyway.

Christ Church weekend away

I'm going to post all my comments etc. here, and will update it as we get closer.
http://www.cct.org.uk/highleigh/

Thursday 11 May
The weekend starts here!!
I have picked up the mini bus for the church weekend. Its another level up in technology from anything I've driven before. It is diesel and automatic which is also a new combination for me, the automatic is also button driven, which is another first. Fortunately it has a steering wheel, a throttle pedal, and a brake pedal - these I know about! To start it you have to have you foot on the brake pedal before you turn the key. That slowed me down quite a bit. When I got home it was too long to park outside the house, so its parked down the road. I'll get a picture for you sceptics later.

I finished work early (ish), and have enjoyed working from home on this lovely day. I have lots to do, and Jo is asking where the directions are. I have lots of other little things to prepare and almost the whole of tomorrow to do it in.

Friday 12 May
What a foolish person, to set out assuming that I knew where I was going and the the map, which showed the whole route in a 5cm square, would be adequate. The M25 was a car park – especially at the junction of the A10. The exits was closed, so we had to go on to the next junction and back through the jam on the other side!. On nearing the conference centre I realised that the directions we had came from somewhere else! “Quite by chance” we happened on the right road and followed the directions to the centre without further incident.

There was a small amount of time to walk around the grounds, and sit in silence – proper silence. Silence you can hear! Simon and Garfunkel were right!

Friday 12 May – Evening Meeting.
Philippians 2:1-18

The reading for the evening- Philippians 2 again (4^th time in about 6 weeks I've been asked to read it, or study it). Steven talked about the Philippians being split, some wanting to go backward towards Judaism, and others wanting to go forward, leaving the physical behind and pursuing the spiritual only. This passage is Paul's antidote to both of those approaches. There was of course lots more to this, but I was trying to get into the spirit of things, take notes, observe the church, and was thinking of those I'd left behind. Here are some other good one liners that I recorded. Oh yes, and trying to spot the matches and contradictions to the sermon I preached last week.

We are not always thankful for everything, but we are always thankful for God

Its how we deal with each other when we disagree

Stephens wife then gave us the story of how she met with Jesus.

Share your story we were told. I didn't; I wonder who did?

Reflection

A good start, everyone appreciates Stephens leadership style, and his easy going personal approach to preaching. I wanted to speak, I felt I had loads to say, but I had a job to do. The reading – and that was all.

Saturday 13 May AM

Joshua 3:14-17

Crossing the Jordan on dry land to take possession of the promise.

There are two ways to react to this passage

“thats not my experience of water:
it doesn't do that
or
isn't God great."

Genesis answers the question “Why are things the way they are today”. This is remarkably

similar to the first Christian studies course I did some 12-13 years ago. It's a helpful approach, you can bet the author didn't have 20^th century physics in mind when he wrote the words.

Joshua 4:1-9
12 men, 12 stones.

The stones are there to prompt the question “What do these stones mean?” so that we can tell the story of Joshua and his entry in the promised land.

There's loads more, but not time to write it just now.... check bak later

Philippians 1:1-11 "Thanks and Joy"

Prayer

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O LORD.

Joke

There's this guy who had been lost and walking in the desert for about 2 weeks. One hot day, he sees the home of a missionary.
Tired and weak, he crawls up to the house and collapses on the doorstep. The missionary finds him and nurses him back to health.
Feeling better, the man asks the missionary for directions to the nearest town. On his way out the backdoor, he sees this horse.
He goes back into the house and asks the missionary, "Could I borrow your horse and give it back when I reach the town?"
The missionary says, "Sure but there is a special thing about this horse. You have to say 'Thank God' to make it go and 'Amen' to make it stop."
Not paying much attention, the man says, "Sure, OK."
So he gets on the horse and says, "Thank God" and the horse starts walking. Then he says, "Thank God, thank God, " and the horse starts trotting.
Feeling really brave, the man says, "Thank God, thank God, thank God, thank God, thank God" and the horse just takes off.
Pretty soon he sees this cliff coming up and he's doing everything he can to make the horse stop.
"Whoa, stop, hold on!!!!"
Finally he remembers, "Amen!!"
The horse stops 4 inches from the cliff. The man leans back in the saddle and says, "Thank God!"

Introduction

Not perhaps the right time, or certainly the best way to give thanks to God!

This morning we are going to look at just two element of this incredibly rich passage. We will first look at the thanks that Paul is giving, and the consider what he has to say about joy.

Paul probably wrote – or more likely dictated – this letter while he was in prison in Rome.

What do we give thanks for? (ASK)

Things

Friends

What does Paul give thanks for?

There was lots to be thankful for:

• Epaphroditus had been sent with a gift, and a brief to look after Paul (2:25, 4:18)

2 Cor 8:1-5

¹And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.² Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. ³ For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, ⁴ they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. ⁵ And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will.

Missionary support starts very early in the life of the church! The Phil's had adopted Paul as their supported missionary as he spread the gospel. They followed his progress, and sent him money, and help as was required. They were not a rich church.

• Here was the first European Church – possibly the first truly gentile church (Lydia was a convert to Judaism). Maybe Paul was specially pleased with this church, he was the 'apostle to the gentiles', and this would have marked a significant step forward.

• The slave girl who had identified them, and got them thrown into prison in the first place.

Acts 16:16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. ¹⁷This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved. ¹⁸She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned round and said to the spirit, In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her! At that moment the spirit left her.

And then when her owners found out, things started to get ugly. Paul and Silas end up in jail after a beating which led to ...

• There was the conversion of the Jailer (Acts 16), who was impressed by the way the apostle and his followers behaved, after the earthquake had apparently set them free.

• They had become good friends to Paul and he longed to see them again.

That was definitely NOT what he was giving thanks for

The thanks he gave was because of their Life in Christ, because of what they were – those who had dedicated their life to Christ, not because of the things they had done. This is the source of Joy for Paul. He says it later on in the letter:

3:8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ

... and if its true for him, it will be true for those he becomes friends with.

What gives Paul his joy?

Now lets go on to look at what it is that give Pauls his joy. There are two things to look at here – his partnership with the Phil's , and his confidence in God.

Partnership

The word used for partnership is “koinonia”, it is sometimes translates fellowship, but has a sense of having a task to do, as in the fellowship of the ring, the first book of Lord of the rings, in which a group set out to destroy the ring.

The Phil's have shared in his work in a very real way. Not only have they supported him in his ministry and mission, but they are also doing the same things themselves. Pauls joy here is not the activities involved in the common task, but the fact that all are involved and are together in the task they are facing.

Confidence

In verse 6 Paul says “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

God has begun a work of salvation, as the slave girl had said “these men ... are telling you the way to be saved” It is not us that starts the process, any more than it was the Phil's or even Paul. Nothing that any of us do can save us from death. It is God who starts the process because of his Grace and love for us.

John 6:⁶³ The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.⁶⁴Yet there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. ⁶⁵He went on to say, This is why I told you that no-one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him. ⁶⁶From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

Its as if God says “I've started so I will finish”. How many of us say that, and never do even the next thing. Paul's confidence is not based on his own, or the Phil's perseverance. His confidence is based on God and his promises. God will do the next thing, God will provide for those he has saved, God will give you a better close relationship with Jesus and the Christians around you, so that you will be able to say with Paul 3:8 “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ”

God will finish. Wherever you end up, whatever you have to go through God will be there:

Ro 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This means that we can be:

• bold rather than tentative

• confident rather than nervous

• grateful rather than uncertain

• rejoicing rather than be afraid

Mark was saying last week that we should live in the authority of God, and not be afraid to exercise that authority. The same theme is picked up here, that we can have confidence in God, that we can follow the promptings of His spirit, and rejoice in all that He is doing amongst us.

What is Joy like?

Bryn Howarth said the other night that he loves the look of Joy on a winners face. He mentioned Kelly Holmes, “the Eyes”.

That's great, but that's not the type of Joy that we have as Christians – not all the time. We may certainly experience that type of joy, after a time of praise and worship, or after we've experienced a miracle, but not all the time. We're looking for something a lot less fleeting. That expression had left Kelly's face in a couple of days, or even sooner. No, what we want is more like Pauls joy. Joy that you can keep even while you're in chains.

How about this guy? Cartoon

That's NOT Bryn Howarth.

Does he really have any joy at all – he doesn't look or sound that different, he does have one thing right though – Pauls joy is certainly deep in his heart.

Here's a definition by John MacAuthur that I thought fitted the bill: “Joy savours thoughts of another's goodness, kindness, love, compassion, gentleness, sacrifice, and care. It forgives the rest “ It reminded me very much of something that Fran said at the AGM, as part of her church wardens report. She spoke about keeping your eyes on the cross, and not on each others weaknesses, and quoted Matthew 7:3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”

Compare the list above with the list of the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:22-23 “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control“

How do I get joy?

Perhaps the Americans have it right, perhaps its “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as the Declaration of Independence says – will that bring joy? Judging by the debate on the internet the pursuit of happiness actually leads to the exact opposite – there is a lot of anger out there that one man's' idea of happiness is very different from another's. Joy is not happiness, but it is like it in that the pursuit of it will never get you there!

To understand how we get joy, lets look at another of the phrases that Paul uses in this passage.

“The fruit of righteousness”.

The fruit of righteousness is evident in a person because of who they have become in Christ. You are dead to sin and alive to God, you have died that your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Romans 6:11 & Colossians 3:3) ... the fruit of righteousness may be cultivated by meditating on the Word of God, speaking the Word, praying in the spirit and worshipping in the relationship that has been established between you and God in Christ. (Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord 2 Peter 3:18)

The fruit of righteousness, the fruit of the spirit, whatever you choose to call it grows in you, all you have to do is cultivate it. Sometimes it will grow and you will be able to see the blooms open, like a rose on a summers day. Sometimes there will appear to be nothing happening, like the trees in garden with bare branches because of the late spring, but the growth had begun ....

Another way of looking at this is the work of building a house. At times you see great progress - such as when the walls are going up. At other times progress seems slow or non-existent - such as when the work is going on inside – the plastering and painting but its all an essential part of the process. The Christian life consists of both. There are times when you will see rapid growth and dramatic change in your life. There are other times you may feel that God has stopped working in your life. That will never happen . . . He may be doing some work inside - on some areas of your character before He begins in another area of your life.

The important thing is that you are growing in Christ, more like Christ, closer to His ideal for your character and your life, as Paul recognises later on in Philippians 4:11-14

¹¹ ... for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹²I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³I can do everything through him who gives me strength. ¹⁴ Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.

Only once the worries and concerns that we spend all our energies on become less important, and we have learnt to truly have confidence in God can we find perfect contentment, then we can appreciate the joys around us – those that God gives us: the Joy of our salvation, the Joy of the salvation of others, the Joy of praising God, the Joy of loving others, and so on..

We've seen what Paul had to be thankful for – the Philippians had been good to him, but more importantly they had trusted in the Lord Jesus. It was Pauls confidence in God, and his partnership with the Philippians, in Christ that gave him such Joy.

So to end, I'd like each of us to join in Pauls prayer at the end of this passage. Use the prayer to pray for everyone in Christ Church, for all the other disciples of Christ that you know, for those brothers and sisters that are currently close to you, and for those who are now distant for whatever reason.

“that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, ¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Christ Church Weekend Away 2006

I'm going to post all my comments etc. here, and will update it as we get closer.
http://www.cct.org.uk/highleigh/

A Good Friday Meditation

This is the core of the meditation I used on Good Friday

Step	Reference	Comment
Prayer	Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. Abba, Father, he said, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.	Jesus ~You know what you have to do. Nevertheless you would rather not. What is important to You is not yourself, your likes and dislikes, but your Fathers. So you pray, asking your Father if this is really necessary. “Do I have to accept this challenge?” Now understanding that this is the only way, you accept Gods way willingly. You realise that this is the only way I can be saved. You will submit to this for me.
Betrayal	While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.	The betrayer arrives with a friendly greeting. He hands you over to the leaders of your people. They arrest you and you submit to their power. Your ordeal has started. Although you know that I too will betray you, you do this for me.
Sanhedrin	The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. The high priest said to him, I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. Yes, it is as you say, Jesus replied. Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, He has spoken blasphemy! What do you think? He is worthy of death, they answered.	The 71 members of the ruling council interrogate you. They are determined to find evidence they can use to put you to death. Its difficult for them, but they do find the evidence they need – with your help! The evidence is good but the conviction is false. The truth cannot be blasphemy. They have decided -all of them. You do not protest, or attempt to argue your case. I use your name in inappropriate ways, and am guilty as charged I am in your thoughts as you prepare to die for me.
Peter	About an hour later another asserted, Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean. Peter replied, Man, I don't know what you're talking about! Just as he was speaking, the cock crowed.	Your closest friend is so scared of what's happening that he even denies that he knows of you! When he realizes what he's done, the reality of it is almost too much for him. For you, for now, you face the future all alone. Even though I have denied you on many occasions and in many different ways, and you know that I too would leave you alone, to go on for me
Guards	The men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him and demanded, Prophesy! Who hit you? And they said many other insulting things to him.	The guards are just bullies, they're not allowed to do anything really harmful, a few cuts & bruises is the worst you'll get here, but it's the humiliation that really hurts. You keep quiet. I think you could answer their question, but that is not the way it has to be. Many times I have avoided lesser mockery than you now suffer, when I could have defended your name Despite this you suffer in silence for me.
Pilate	Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus said, My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.	The puppet governor has no real power – he's caught between Rome and the Jews. What does he really understand? You give him a glimpse of something, but he doesn't see it, he's too preoccupied with his political problems. How often have I missed a glimpse of your kingdom because I'm so focussed on my own problems? In your kingdom you are preparing a place for me.
Crowd	Pilate said to the crowd “As you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.” With one voice they cried out, Away with this man! They kept shouting, Crucify him! Crucify him!	The crowd is fickle, you didn't give them what they wanted, never mind that there was something better to be had. They couldn't or wouldn't see that. No doubt their leaders have helped them come to that conclusion. Sometimes I allow myself to be manipulated, and find myself with those screaming for your blood! You can see through it all – to salvation for me.
Simon	A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross.	After the beatings and with the weight of the cross you stumble and fall. Any one would, but you are NOT anyone. The soldiers don't care, they just grab the nearest person and press him into service. A short time of welcome relief. How can God show weakness and frailty? Its a mystery that I am not prepared to probe, and an example that I am unwilling to follow. Even in your weakness you show no self pity, just your love for me.
Women	A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.	What can they do? They can't do anything. That's not your reaction, you see things that they have no idea of. You try to warn them, but does it get through? The people following you and painfully aware of the loss they will suffer. I too am pre-occupied with my own sufferings You know that you are going through these sufferings for me.
Crucifixion	When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals— one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.	The sentence is carried out. An innocent man. A criminals death. Dying with the lowest of the low. In unimaginable pain, struggling for breath, fighting just to hang on to life because there is something you want to say. “Forgive them” Do I forgive as I should? Even so, your forgiveness is also for me.
Death	When he had received the drink, Jesus said, It is finished. With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.	And now you are gone. God is dead? And you let it happen. For me.
Burial	Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.	Now in death you are honoured, as you had not been in life. The rich look after your body, and ensure that you get a proper burial. Your life has been spent, your mission is complete You have made friendship with God possible for me.

Ro 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Manchester Passion

On BBC 3 live, and repeated on BBC 2 later last night (15 Apr. Good Friday 2006), it is a re-telling of the story of the Passion of Christ in a modern way. Using the music of the city, and various locations around Manchester we follow Christ from the Last Supper to the his final condemnation. Then we jumped almost immediately to the resurrection. No attempt was made to re-enact the crucifixion itself, but there was a graphic description of crucifixion as carried out by the Romans at that time. We have ourselves represented Christ's life in public, and know how powerful the story can be, although we didn't have the BBC to make a high quality programme about it. Some of the pieces I particularly enjoyed:

• Riot police with SPQR on their uniforms, particularly in their confrontation with Peter.
• Jesus being 'bagged' (hooded) and put in the cage in the back of a police van.
• The 'front man' who also played Pilate telling us that we'd really all like to be Pilate -he has a point, I suppose.
• The crowd shouting CRUCIFY!, was good for getting everyone involved, and certainly could have been fairly convincing as a wild mob.

Some of the interviews of the public who had travelled to Manchester to see (be involved in?) the spectacle were also interesting.

• “I don't believe in organised religion – so I'm here representing all those who don't believe in organised religion” - Think about it!
• A Moslem explaining how important Jesus is in Islam. He's just another prophet from God, is what it amounted to.
• A Christian punk rocker saying that Jesus would have come to the punks and had his ministry amongst the drop outs and low-lives. Yes, I agree, He would, but there is more – Jesus ministered to ALL those who needed / recognised Him. Think of Nicodemus, and Joseph of Arimathea, who took care of His body.

There are also some criticisms, not of what was being shown – that was good, and telling the story in a local way (both geographically and in time) is a helpful ting to do to get people aware and involved. My criticisms are of the way things were put together and presented.

• The singer who played Mary was difficult to hear, and way to serene to really be involved in the story.
• There were many occasions when one or two lines from songs were repeated over and over. I don't much like this in a worship environment, where the songs are written with repetition in mind, here it was inappropriate, and seemed to be there just to fill the time.

Offence

http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,1749813,00.html Lets hope that none of the 'pop' fans who turned out for the event were offended, not by the music anyway – that wasn't radical, innovative, or so far as I could tell offensive.

There is much that is described as 'must see' or 'unmissable', this wasn't – it should have been!

Reign of Terror, Reign of Love

Reign of Terror - Reign of Love

Kefa Sempangi

A first hand account of life and death in Amin's Uganda

An Aslan Lion Paperback ISBN 0 86548 192 0 - First UK edition 1979.

Have you ever had a book scream "READ ME!" every time you walk past it? I bought this one ages ago, at a book sale somewhere, because the back cover starts "There were five of them, they stood between me and the door of the church vestry, pointing their rifles at my face." The author obviously survived because he wrote the book and I just love stories that show Gods power. It turned up while I was browsing through the book cabinet, and sat on top of the pile waiting to be read.

These stories are often moving and challenging, so I don’t always read them on the train. This one took my mind off having to stand for forty or more minutes.

As the book opens Kefa Sempangi is a professor at the Makerere University in Uganda and is also a leader of the Revival Fellowship. The mood is positive after the overthrow of Obote. We follow Kefa, his church and the developing situation in Uganda. Kefa starts a home for destitute children, and learns from God that he cannot save every one. Jesus says "Kefa, you are not the Messiah. You are not in charge of my vineyard. You are only one small worker …. This is the child I want you to take".

The church achieves amazing growth through the belief and dedication of its leaders. The leadership holds all night prayer meetings to resolve their problems, and seek Gods direction. It must leave them tired the next day, but there are never any complaints. Their commitment was my first challenge. As problems start with Amin’s assassins Kefa does not know how to pray for the children who have witnessed the massacre of their family, so he simply reads them John Gospel. The child is healed. There are many other healing, dramatic escapes from the assassins, victories over witch craft, and unexpected conversions as the church and Kefa grow. God is also seen to teach them in unexpected ways. In the middle of a crisis a woman asks them to pray because she needs a bed. Kefa is annoyed with her, agrees and sends her away. Next week she is back, praising Jesus excitedly – she has a bed. Kefa is more annoyed and tries to keep her quiet. From this he learns that "A religion is true if it works, if it meets all the needs of the people". My second challenge is to understand what this means for us 2001.

The story of Kefa’s escape from Amin is too good to tell here, so I’m keeping it for a talk at some time, unless of course you all read the book!!

My biggest challenge was early in the book, where there is a description of their confession. Kefa finds it a difficult experience, confessing all his "personal jealousies" and other very private sins. One of the other elders explains that when they hear confession (it happens in a group!), it is not the sins that they hear, but Jesus power of forgiveness. They seem to derive enormous power from Jesus’ forgiveness. That seems to me to be a part of Christianity that we are missing.

Pete Fisher 10/1/01