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”.
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?”
For thousands of years humans of all cultures and all races have acknowledged the inevitability of physical death but have refused to accept that this event is the end of personal existence. Almost all religions and tribal mythologies have some concept of an afterlife. Only recently have atheists and humanists rejected the idea that there is any other form of existence for us. I suspect that the hardest problem with accepting an atheistic world view is giving up the hope of resurrection.
There is an old saying, “Nothing is certain but death and taxes”. In the natural world, life and death are fundamental to existence. Jesus said,
“I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds”.
Our physical bodies consist of about 7*1027 atoms (that’s a 7 followed by 27 zeros!) or seven billion billion billion atoms. These atoms do not really belong to us, they are constantly being replenished and eventually have to be given up to the ground, and then to produce other life.
But we are not just flesh and blood. The real you, and the real me, is the breath that God breathed into us; what we call our spirits. The hope and the certainty of resurrection is that even though our bodies die, our spirit can live on for ever. Death, mankind’s oldest enemy, was defeated when Jesus as the Son of God, died a terrible death on the cross but three days later was resurrected, bringing hope to us all. The Spirit of God, alive in Jesus, made it impossible for him to stay dead. That same Spirit of God, alive in us, means that we too have the hope of resurrection (see Romans 8:11). Continue reading “Resurrection”
The other night I could not get to sleep for a while. I was thinking back over the last 70 years, and wondering, “Where has it all gone?” It has always been my passion to change the world and I have not achieved all that I set out to do. I do not want to minimise what has been achieved though the charity I founded, but I want more; I want my life to make a real difference!
When I woke up at around 6 a.m. I was faintly aware of a dream I had just had. The details are a bit vague but I had been having a conversation with God about the state of the world. The only words I can remember is God saying, “I am in the business of changing hearts” Continue reading “Changing hearts to change the world “
Last week some of my family attended the funeral of a friend who had died at the age of 51 years old from a heart attack. Was it in God’s plan? I don’t believe that God planned for his life to be cut short. I don’t believe that God wanted that. I don’t believe that his premature death was a punishment in any way.
What is the difference between knowing the love of God, and feeling loved by him? What is the difference between believing that God is a God who loves us, and really knowing that love?
On Sunday we were looking at the story that Jesus told about the ‘prodigal’ son. When Martin finished speaking he invited us to discuss the implications around the tables where we were sitting. I made a statement on the spur of the moment and without really thinking about it. I said,
“I have always known that God loves me, ever since I was 5 years old.”
There is no getting away from the fact that I always want to be in control. But sometimes the Lord puts us in situations where I am not in control at all. Instead of being in a boat heading purposely out to sea I feel like a piece of drift wood at the mercy of the waves upon the beach.
Continue reading “Confessions of a control freak”
Compassion and Justice 