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!

The Bible Makes Sense

The Bible Makes Sense

Walter Brueggemann
Westminster John Knoxx Press
ISBN 0-664-22495-4

“Well of course it does!”, or perhaps you don't agree? This is really a Bible Study work book, but we have it as an assigned text and have been loaned a copy. Each chapter is followed by a series of questions that can be used for reflection or discussion, then some Bible passages for meditation. Following this there is some summary text. The book starts with a fresh perspective which sets the Christian faith against the background of the post modern world that we live in. Through each of the ten chapters we get a different view, or emphasis of the Bible. Some will speak more clearly to you than others. Some you might even disagree with, but that's really what the book is for – making (or should I say helping) us think – about the Bible in our setting. The way I read this book is not ideal, but even so I believe it is a useful resource, and invaluable if you are in a Bible Study group where the members are prepared to do some ground work before the meeting.

I liked it so much, I'm going to buy my own copy!

Scripture and the Authority of God

Scripture and the Authority of God
N. T. Wright (Bishop of Durham)
SPCK
ISBN 0-281-05722-2

The back cover starts “What sort of 'authority' does the Bible have? What does it mean for an ancient, complicated and sometimes strange book to be 'authoritative' in the life of the church or individual Christians?” If you don't have a ready answer for the question and would like one, the I suggest you read on. I read it, not because of the back cover, but because it is a set book in my training course. If it hadn't been I might have missed out on a stimulating and thought provoking book. Looking at Scripture in our own time and throughout Christian history, and the way that various different movements have dealt with it, in particular for me the discussion on the enlightenment was most interesting. Some of the other interesting questions answered are What is tradition? What does literal reading really mean? What is the place of 'reason'? What is the place of experience?

Bishop Wright also deals with the misreadings briefly, go through the list and pick the top five that apply to you.

At 107 pages this is very much an introduction to the main topic, and there are plenty of references if you want to dig deeper. My only criticism is that some of the chapters are rather too compressed, and I had to read them very carefully to make sure that I was getting the meaning.