Christine and I belong to a choir. We have just held a number of Christmas concerts and we sang this carol among others. It starts with typical words about Christmas bells and “Peace on earth”. The carol goes on to say:
“Tell the nations that love has won”
But then suddenly comes this verse:
And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth”, I said,
“for hate is strong and mocks the song
of peace on earth, goodwill to men”.
My last blog was about nationalism and racism and how the future is effected by them. When we look at the world we could be very gloomy. But basically I am an optimist because I believe the ultimate future is what Jesus called the Kingdom of God.
When Jesus taught us to pray in what is called “The Lord’s Prayer”, he says we should pray:
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10 NIV)
When we use those words we are asking God to rule on the earth in the same way that his will is always done in heaven. In fact we are firstly asking God to rule in our own attitudes, words and actions. Then we are asking God to extend his rule over the whole of humanity. But the way God rules is very different from the way earthly dictators have power over the citizens of their country. Continue reading “Optimism and the Kingdom of God”
I believe that the world is standing at the crossroads. Are we moving to a more united world where the problems of war, extreme poverty and disease are reduced or even eliminated? Or are we are moving towards a world divided by nationalism and racism resulting in war, economic disaster, deprivation and misery? Continue reading “Optimistic or Pessimistic future”
As we live in an imperfect society we need some rules and laws to combat the worst forms of evil. Religion has its own sets of rules, but Jesus showed us that if we follow his way, love transcends rules. He was born into a Jewish society which had built up a complex set of rules to moderate and control how people lived their everyday lives. We will see in this article how Jesus broke many of the rules and traditions that religion imposed. Continue reading “Jesus breaks religious rules”
Faith is like a window. We can think of a window in many ways. We could concentrate on the construction, the design, the curtains, the glass but fail to realise that the purpose of a window is to actually look out and enjoy the view. A window brings the outside in and exposes the inside to the outside.
Faith is a window which enables us to see God clearly and enables us to have a direct relationship with him. God can also see us clearly and yet because of his great love for us does not look upon our imperfections.
Religion, on the other hand, can prevent us from really seeing God. We argue about the window style, and say that unless our window conforms in construction or rituals it is inferior or even not a window at all. Religion puts obstacles in the way of seeing God. It makes rules and regulations and says that unless we conform we cannot know God. Continue reading “Faith: a window to God”
When I was a child I attended Christian churches, which, although they preached the good news of the Gospel, nevertheless taught that we had to strive all of our lives to please God and conform to certain rules. So I was taught not to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, visit the cinema or to dance. We had turned Jesus into a religion.
Now we can drink as long as we don’t get drunk, and we can even dance in church. However there is still a risk of encouraging religion by expecting people to conform to our standards and rules.
For two thousand years, we have turned the good news into a religion. The process started with the early church when some were told they needed to be circumcised to really be saved. Others were told that they mustn’t eat meat which had been used as an offering to other religions. Others were side-lined into worshipping angels. Some tried to reconcile the Old Testament law with their new-found faith. Continue reading “What is wrong with Religion?”
Yesterday we were having a get-together of a support group for a small charity. We were discussing the challenges of supporting our partners work in combating poverty and creating opportunity for people around the world. There is no avoiding the fact that we need money to meet the needs. We discussed “Do we fundraise or do we activate the generosity which we know is out there?” Continue reading “Activating generosity”
The word “grace” has many meanings such as a prayer before a meal, courteousness, or the elegance of a dancer. But the word takes on a totally new meaning when we talk about grace in the context of God’s relationship with humanity. I respectfully submit my definition:
“Grace is the unconditional love of God extended to all men and women. Grace forgives us for the wrongs we commit towards our creator, his creation and one another. Grace includes us in the love relationship which God the Father shares with Jesus Christ his son.”
God is love: and the fact that he loves us is truly amazing, fantastic, mind-blowing, and whatever superlative you can think of. Continue reading “Amazing Grace”
Compassion and Justice 