Alpha Vision Day - Holy Trinity Brompton – 29 Feb 08

My vision for Alpha had been flagging. I had only ever been involved in doing live talks, and have seen the number of Alpha courses we run in the town reduce and reduce. It seems to me that the format is beginning to come to the end of its useful life, and I was starting to wonder what could replace it. So, when I was asked if I was interested in the day, I at first said 'yes' because I was really more interested in seeing the church than I was in hearing about Alpha.

So, on Friday morning we set out, for me with less anticipation than was healthy. We arrived at the church by a less than direct route, and went in the tradesman's entrance. Still, never mind, we were soon registered, given a folder (just like the Christ Church weekend away!) and directed to coffee. Then the feel of the church began to percolate its way into my system. We were sat in regions, so it was just us up in the balcony for a while. I looked around at the screens and the floor that can be changed into terracing. I looked at the part of the church that seems unused – but that may just be today.

The proceedings started with worship, some of the songs were new to me, but not to Liz. After four or five songs we heard many stories of how Alpha is operating in various places. We heard about companies putting all their staff on the Alpha course, a course in a room at a shopping centre, one at Old Trafford (home of Manchester United football club), and a street party that barbecued half a cow, as an Alpha launch event, among other things.

Now it was Nicky Gumbel's turn to speak. His vision for Alpha is that it is time to Accelerate. He spoke about Matthew 11:12 “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.” saying it is not what we would expect – and he was right. Worldwide one some 11 million people have been through an Alpha course, of which only about 200,000 are in the UK. There are over 6,790 million people in the world. There were more Alpha courses in 2007 that there have been since 2000. Nicky's vision is to plant 20 churches a year, up from 1 a year, since Alpha began. He would like to use some of the 35 church buildings that are scheduled for closure.

There was also the launch of the new website – AlphaFriends.org. This is for people who are involved in some way in supporting or running an Alpha course. The original site alpha.org, is now exclusively for those who are attending, or thinking about attending an alpha course. The new publicity was previewed. The organisation is gearing up to deliver the vision.

Lunch was provided by HTB. Each person was given a bag with sandwiches, crisps, chocolate wafer, and a bottle of water. More coffee was also available. We collected our lunch, but then it was already too late to attend the next session, so I missed hearing about the provocative church.

After lunch, I attended the 'Alpha Male' discussion, which I am pleased to say was well over subscribed, and I will be praying and thinking more about some of the things that were said.

There followed another talk, from Pete Grieg who spoke about being with the Lord, and being with the lost – each of us must achieve a balance, without that we are not fulfilling our calling. He told us some stories from various revivals, and reminded us that each of them had started in prayer. Sometimes just a few people meeting regularly and faithfully to pray, the results seen many years later, sometimes those people were no longer with us, but the results of their prayers were felt by the later generations. This reminded me that what we do here and now does not only affect the here and now. We cannot know what we are starting, but future generations may look back and thank God for our faithfulness.

Finally there was a question and answer session with Nicky, who spoke again about his passion that churches should not be closed. Then it was time to go home.

So what of my flagging vision for Alpha? Alpha is a tool. Use it when it works, when it's the right tool for the job. Like any tool it requires a certain skill to be used effectively. Also like any tool it needs to be maintained so that it does its job effectively. There is more we could do, there are ways we could use the tool more effectively. Each of the group that went from Christ church will have their own ideas, thoughts, and additions to their prayer lists from the visit to HTB.

Can we lay hold of the Kingdom and advance it forcefully?

Sunday, February 17, 2008 @ 8:00 @ Christ Church Billericay: Calling the first 4 disciples

Matthew 4:18-22 

Introduction

Today we look in more detail at the calling of the first four disciples - Andrew and Peter, James and John. Michael Cohen had some interesting things to say about Jesus' actions in calling these disciples. He spoke about the insight that Christ possesses and His ability to understand someone's motives very quickly indeed. What Jesus saw when he looked at Peter and John, in particular was potential, and a willingness to serve God. Indeed only the second quality is needed, as we are well aware God can provide people with whatever gifting suits His purpose. Liz, at last month's family service, took us through all the disciples and told us one or two things about each one. Some of the information she dug up was new to me, which made her talk even more interesting. So what more is there to say? Well lots, as always. Today I will take a closer look at the call from the point of view of Peter, Andrew, James and John. They were all fishermen, fishing was hard work. Lots of physical effort with sometimes very little gain. A really good catch would have seen them set up for a week, but rarely did a really good catch occur. Most nights they would cast their nets over the side of the boat and haul in empty nets. Nothing .. again and again. By the end of the night they would be tired, then they would have to repair the nets if there was any damage and store them for the next night. If they'd caught enough they would have to take it to the market and sell it. As soon as it was dusk, it was back to the boats for another nights fishing. 

Disciples expectations

So there's this bloke wanders up to them one morning and says “follow me”. Hardly! Of course, Jesus wasn't a total stranger. He had chosen to settle in Capernaum. A village of no more than twenty families. It's pretty certain then, in such a small village, that everyone knew that a prophet had come to live with them, or perhaps they called him a Holy man, or Rabbi. There's no sense of a delay between verse 17 where Jesus begins to preach, and verse 18 where he calls the first two disciples, but neither is there any reason to assume that one thing follows immediately after the other. It didn't happen overnight, I'm sure, but it also didn't take long. As Jesus started his ministry he would have been on the lookout for people to join him, and Jesus could size people up pretty quickly. We know from John 1:35-40 that Peter and Andrew had already been introduced to Jesus by John the Baptist. Indeed Andrew, at least, had spent a day with him. So there are Peter and Andrew, abandoning their boats and nets for a new life. Now we know from the end of John, that 3 years later Peter could consider returning to his old way of making a living Jn21:3 “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.. So the boats must have been secured, and stored, and even maintained. There are also many stories of their use. These fishermen were undoubtedly expecting a new life, but what sort of life could they expect? I was watching “Extreme Pilgrim” the other day, have any of you seen it? Reverend Peter Owen Jones makes three pilgrimages. When he's in India with the Hindus there's one point where he's talking about the way the groups are organized and he says “This is what it must have been like in Jesus time”. The wandering Holy man has a group of friends around him – his disciples. They are the ones who decide who gets to see the Guru. May be that's the role the disciples would have expected to play, it certainly part of the role that they played. Mt 19:13. Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” It was a part of the role they didn't play very well. That's OK, of course, because Jesus is there to teach them, just as the Guru's are in India. Guru means from Dark to Light, and Jesus is described as the light of the world. In the prophesy that Jesus is fulfilling (4:16) it talks about the people living in darkness seeing a great light. The prophesy is in Isaiah 9:2. In their new life there was much they would have to give up – certainly regular fishing trips would be out of the question, but occasional ones would be allowed. They would also be separated from their families, and in the case of James and John would be unable to take over the family business. So their future security was gone. They had to rely on this prophet for everything. If he was a failure, they would have a very difficult life indeed. That too is how the Guru's seem to work in India. There are however some significant differences.

Follow me

Have you ever had anyone say “Follow me”? - The thought that immediately came to mind was a friend whose car I had to follow on the way to a Badminton match many years ago. It was the first time I'd tried to follow another car. My dad, who'd driven in convoys many years before, gave me lots of advice – most of it irrelevant. On the journey I had to pay careful attention to the car in front, change lanes when he did. Speed up and slow down when he did, and even take a few risks to keep him in sight, and to make sure I knew where he'd gone. If I hadn't I'd have lost him, and in the days before mobile phones, and GPS navigation I would have been completely lost. I had put my trust in the person I was following, and did just as he did. I didn't know why he did what he did, but I knew that the only way to the destination was to follow that car. Another example of people following someone, and perhaps this give a better flavour of what is really going on, is a tour guide. My example of this was on an island - St Mary's in the Scillies to be exact – and the guide was taking us around a nature trail. Now on St Mary's there is no chance of getting lost – the island is just too small. Still there is lots to see, and lots to learn. Even here though, if we are to get the best from the tour guide, we have to keep up with him on the trail. We have to trust in his judgement about where the best places are to see certain birds, or certain types of flower, we have to trust him when he says smell or taste a seed of something. We have to trust also that his history is good, although it is obvious that history is not his strong point. At first meeting we didn't even know for certain who he was. There are plenty of people on St. Mary's on any summer day dressed for hiking and holding a bird viewing telescope – it just isn't a unique feature. So we followed him around the island, listening to birds, hearing about the plants that are not native and have escaped from the gardens on Tresco, and the ones that are, and survive here because of the very gentle climate. All the way round there's conversation, he even finds us somewhere good to eat, and asks if we want to do the second half of the tour in the afternoon. None of our party dropped out, it was too good an opportunity to miss. Both of these illustrations tell us something about what it is to be called to follow.

Knowing who to follow

The first thing is knowing who to follow, if I'd started of on my island tour following the first person who fitted the profile – dressed for hiking and holding a telescope – I probably wouldn't have found out much about the island. Similarly the disciples wouldn't have just followed anyone, as we've already seen they had some knowledge about who they were to follow. John the Baptist had already announced Jesus as the Lamb of God to Andrew and Peter. We too have to know who to follow, one of my concerns with Peter Jones and his trip to visit the Hindu holy men was that he seemed just to choose any one of the them, the first one that would speak to him. Follow Jesus. Its a simple statement, but not a simple solution. Its a simple statement because its the summary of what the Bible tells us, and the Bible tells us that Jesus knows the way because he came from there, and has been back there also. Much like the friend I followed to the Badminton match – he's been there before.

Pay careful attention

Following another car is one thing, following a person is quite another. Certainly we will have to pay careful attention to the person we are following. We will have to speed up when He does and also to slow down when he does, or there's a danger of going past, and the what do you do at the next junction? We will certainly have to change lanes too – at least and most definitely once. Then there's the risk taking. Its going to be a risk from the start, as soon as you decide to follow, and change lanes you are going to be on unfamiliar territory. The people around you who think you're going the same way as them will suddenly see that you not – and that can lead to confusion at best, and hostile reactions at worst.

Trust

You will have to decide to trust in Jesus, without that you will be constantly looking at signs along the way that are designed for other people going in other directions. They will not take you where you want to go. Those signs will take you where you have already decided to come from. We must remember that we are there to learn.

Following Spiritually 

None of us have been asked to give up our livelihoods, abandon our homes and join a band of travelling holy men (or people). We have to follow spiritually rather than physically. We have to be a disciple in our world, not try to re-create the world that Jesus lived in. That can be harder. The world stays around us, distracting our attention. We are expected to take our place in the society we are living in. That places limitations on what we can do, and how we can behave. To get to know Jesus, and to learn the lessons He has for us takes a considerable amount of effort on out part. We must find time to read the Bible, we must find time to reflect on what it says, we must make the effort to meet with other Christians, for worship, and to learn together more of what the Christian faith is about. We must spend time in prayer, so that we can communicate with God. Then we have to make some conscious decisions about what we do. We must decide to take Jesus' way whenever we are presented with a choice. When Peter Jones was being admitted to the presence of the Guru, he was told by one of the Guru's followers that the Guru was so far ahead spiritually that he should not attempt to do what the Guru does, but that he should be satisfied to do what the Guru says. This is where Christianity is so different. The Apostle Paul say “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” (1 Cor 11:1). The ESV translates the passage as “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. “. The literal translation of the Greek word here is “Mimic me”. Jesus came to show us how to live, and His followers and their followers have been called to do the same since the very beginning.

Being a Disciple

 That is what it means to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus. That is what it means to be someone who is Walking with Christ. When Jesus said he would make the disciple fishers of men, that's what he meant, because that's exactly what he was doing as he spoke the words – fishing for these men. As we learn, as we make the choices day by day to be more like Christ, to improve our imitation of Him, we will want to move on from the simple things to the more difficult things. I doubt that the disciples expected their life to get any easier when they decided to follow Jesus. I hope that none of you expected your lives to get easier when you decided to follow Jesus, you may have expected your live to be better, but not easier, indeed it may become harder and harder, especially if you are called to somewhere you are unfamiliar with. Jesus promised to make the disciples fishers of men, those who will go out and catch men for the Kingdom of God. They followed him faithfully in the end, as did their successors right down to the present day – otherwise we would not be here. The disciple's imitation of Jesus was good enough to help others improve their imitation of Him, and that has always been the case. So let me leave you with a question: How's your imitation doing?

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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.

Norton 360 (2)

So I followed up the attempt to get Norton 360 fixed with a visit to the on-line support, via chat.

Take 1 of this was just a first line guy, who wanted me to change the clock on my machine - which I wasn't really happy to do, but Norton recovered, I don't think he had done anything.

On Take 2, the call was escalated to a second level guy who took over my machine and played with the permissions in the registry for the user the doesn't work properly. After much messing around, and still being unable to get this to work he decided that it was time to re-install IE. He downloaded IE7, and ran the installer. All apparently OK. Now NONE of my limited accounts can initialize IE. Is this because of the install? Is this something Norton is doing? I cannot tell. IE is not very important to me - except to Microsoft Update, which has to be run from an Admin anyway. My system is very important, I use it a lot, so this is as far as I go - for now.

Now when he found that IE didn't work, he decided to do a system restore. The restore he chose did not work. In all my years in IT I've only known it work ONCE. What it did do was remove all the information from the system about how to connect back into the level2 organisation at Symantec. By then I'd given up anyway. He was clearly prepared to risk things on my system that I would think twice before trying.

So 2 protection products that do harm:
Bullguard, that I replaced because the system kept running out of memory when I copied lots of files form other machines
Norton 360, for the reasons above.

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.

Making Money (A Discworld Novel)

Terry Pratchett
Transworld Publishers (Double Day)

ISBN 9780385611015

The latest book in the ever lengthening Discworld series again concentrates on Moist von Lipwig as the central character. The environment is familiar and Ankh-Morpork is still ruled by Vetinari. Most of the characters though are new. The wonderfully comic Cosmo, who is completely mad, and his relatives, and a small dog all vie with Moist for ownership of the Ankh-Morpork bank. The bank has been under performing for years and requires the same type of transformation as the Post-Office (see the previous book in the series – Going Postal). Then there's the Golden Golem, the Golem Trust, and the possibility of war with the other cities on the Disc. Unseen University, Ponder Stibbons, and the Necromancy department Department of Post-Mortem Communications, are there to help out and avoid catastrophe, or contribute to it. A full cast list can be found in lspace.

We also come across another type of computer, this one is water based and the whole area where is operated is wet. It models the economy (read the book to find out how). When Moist is introduced to it, he says to its programmer “Hello, I'm Moist”, to which the reply is “I should have put the umbrella closer to the door”. That's my type of quote!

It is clear from this novel that Pratchett does not have a high level of respect for banks. What is there that's of real worth – could it be Gold? As unlikely here as it is on the Discworld, but nonetheless something that people are drawn to. The gold standard is abandoned, as it has been in the sphere world. The story develops with its usual flourish, and a good deal of comedy, but here, the characters themselves are more obviously comic in their own right. This is an easy and enjoyable read. Unlike most of the other novels in this series, its pace does not pick up dramatically at the end, which is no bad thing.

My last review of a Pratchett book was Wintersmith.