The Circle

We’ve started looking at LIFESHAPES today at Ivy.

The first one is the Circle.

It’s a great way to process what God wants to do in our lives.

Follow this link to the church website if you want to hear my talk with further detail on it once it’s available.

My main point really came from one of Jesus’ shortest parables. Remember the guy who found treasure hidden in a field? (Surely you have time to read ONE VERSE?)

He didn’t just think ‘how interesting - there’s treasure here.’

He dug it up!

He rolled up his sleeves and he sweated and toiled and he paid the price to get the treasure.

We sometimes want it to just fall in our laps.

God says, “Here’s how it works in my kingdom: get digging!”

The Circle provides a way to not just be a hearer (deceiving myself) but a doer of the Word.

I heard Brother Andrew from Open Doors speak at the New Wine conference, about a month back. Amazing! A 70 year old man still 100% going for it- witnessing to the Taliban. He said -

“The reason Christians are fearful is that you read too many papers and not enough Bible.”

WOW! There’s some kingdom treasure there.

But I can just let it fly by as he says it. It’s a KAIROS moment; a special time. God is breaking some truth in - heaven is touching earth. What do I do?

Let’s go through the circle…the first half is all about how I start to change my mind - have it renewed…

I observe… (that is a very profound statement- made by a man worth listening to).

I reflect... (I wrote it down- I ponder it, chew it over.

WE discuss… (don’t do Christianity alone - we need each other! Send me your thoughts and comments on this please)

But I haven’t finished yet.

J John says, “When all is said and done - a lot more gets said than done!”

Look at the second half on the circle. Let’s not kid ourselves - FAITH is action!

I make a PLAN. Less newspapers. Less news on Tv. Less internet. What will I do with the time? MORE BIBLE!

I get you to hold me to ACCOUNT. Ask me - am i spending more time studying God’s word this week? (Not just for sermons; to grow closer to Jesus!

And none of that is worth much - the treasure stays in the ground - unless and until…

I ACT!

(Bye now - I’m off to read my Bible )

I’m having a liminal moment.

Remember this moment- Indiana Jones stepped out!

Liminality is linked to the idea of thresholds (the Latin word is related to doorsteps), it’s about passing through into somewhere, something new. It’s the place where transformation happens.

The Scottish anthropologist Victor Turner had a lot to say about these ‘betixt and between’ times. Times when you wobble between being one thing and another. He looked at those ‘Rites of Passage’ whereby tribes would send boys off into the jungle to eat horrible food or fight a bear or something and come back a man. During the trial you were in the liminal phase. Not one thing ( a boy) – yet not the other yet (a man). I have such a rite to go through tomorrow – don’t worry, I don’t have to be circumcised or do anything  life threatening  – in fact I’m looking forward to it a great deal.

I had to fill in a form earlier – it asked about occupation.

Well…. I’m ordained in the C of E. But tomorrow I get commissioned to lead a non CofE church. I was ‘Rector,’ - NEVER liked that title- tomorrow I get welcomed as the new Senior Pastor of Ivy Cottage. Eventually I think the Bishop of Manchester will sort me out with a licence so I stay in theAnglican fold (whatever that means these days) - but I got to make my own business card and I put on there, “Team leader.” I prefer that (if I have to have a title at all).My son Joel has a laugh about me being a Team Leader. He says none of his friends at his new school understand that – and they don’t believe him when he says I’m a Vicar – to make it easier for them to get it.

I suppose an anthropologist would have to class this as ‘temporary liminality’ technically – ‘ a stage I’m going through..’ but then as a Christian we’re called to engae with the strangeness of being ‘in the world not of it’ – aliens and strangers – on a permanent basis.

Fr. Richard Rohr is a Franciscan priest who’s written brilliantly on this idea of liminality – concentrate hard as you read on…

Nothing new happens as long as we are inside our self-constructed comfort zone. Nothing good or creative emerges from business as usual. Much of the work of the God of the Bible is to get people into liminal space, and to keep them there long enough so they can learn something essential.

He says liminality is

“… a unique spiritual position where human beings hate to be but where the biblical God is always leading them. It is when you have left the “tried and true” but have not yet been able to replace it with anything else. It is when you are finally out of the way. It is when you are in between your old comfort zone and any possible new answer. It is no fun. Think of Israel in the desert, Joseph in the pit, Jonah in the belly, the three Marys tending the tomb.”

Ever been there? He continues -

IF YOU ARE NOT trained in how to hold anxiety, how to live with ambiguity, how to entrust and wait—you will run…. Few of us know how to stay on the threshold. You just feel stupid there—and we are all trying to say something profound these days.”

He’s certainly right about that last sentence – why else do we bloggers bother?

It really is - don’t laugh! It hasn’t rained on us at all since we moved on Wednesday - a day earlier than we had planned. I’m sitting here in the kitchen which is really the only place at the moment I can connect to a network. We are in our lovely new home, everyone has been so kind and thoughtful.

Not strictly biblical - but I like the thought

Didsbury is a beautiful place where yesterday I went for a run and discovered an idyllic park just round the corner. Some kind new friends invited us out last night to join in a family celebration - people are SO friendly!

Great talk today from Alan Taylor at church about LOVE. Lots of insightful points, what grabbed me most was the idea of surprising love. Check it out at the website.

What a week for going from person to person learning how to love. Among others (including the removals men who were brilliant) I’ve met…

Anthony the alarm man, who took a copy of a little book with him full of bible promises - I wrote in it, “praying that God would bless you and keep you safe as you keep others safe.”

Ron the aerial man who will introduce me to his pals at the Dog & Partridge

Ron the runner who helped me when I got lost and ran back with me - what an interesting bloke!

Paul the gas fitter who told me his Dad was a Jew who became a Christian when a street evangelist spoke to him; Paul took a little devotional book and as I prayed with him together with Zoe, his eyes welled up with tears.

This morning I met an absolute Manchester legend - Mike Shaft. I used to listen to Mike’s TCOB shows on Piccadilly 261 back in the day - and how chuffed was I to be his guest for a short slot / interview on his show on BBC Radio Manchester. It went really well.

As I write, Joel, Sarah & Steve, Matt and John from church have turned up to do the one thing I hate most of all - the job I am absolutely most ungifted for - putting together our new flat pack furniture! How amazing that people would give up their sunny Sunday afternoon to do that. What a great gift to us. Surprising love in action.

God loves this city - and I do too!

Eddy goes for a burton in 'It's a Knockout'

Still shaking my head over yesterday’s phenomenal outpouring of love here for my last Sunday! The church family and local community came together for an amazing time of gratitude to God, quite overwhelming at times.

Apart from making me eat unmentionable things in ‘I’m a Northerner get me out of here!’, having to sing ‘Angels’ by Robbie Williams, and being presented with a beautiful album of our time here and far too many hugs and kisses - we were also really privileged to baptise 25 people! What a day - I will never forget it. Thanks to everyone - and thanks be to God!

There are too many photos to upload an it takes ages - but here’s a little sample - Thanks be to God!

Met with my men’s group this morning for the penultimate time! All seems a bit unreal.

Our study out of Carl Beech’s great book ‘Spadework’ was about the one out of ten lepers who came back to Jesus and actually said thank you. We noticed how they were all healed, but only the grateful one was ‘whole.’

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God has done!

Don’t ask me how the conversation ended up there, but we started talking about how there is something to thank God for even in the hard times, sharing about when we were boys etc. I remembered a really hard time my Mum and Dad must have been going through when I was about 11 or 12. I wanted to live at my friend Michael Holt’s house because his Mum always made me cheese toasties and I was sure they never argued.

I was still at the age then when I thought desperate prayer might just work - I remember hearing their arguments downstairs and praying that God would keep them together. A little while later i gave up on prayer for years. However I am so grateful they worked at it and came through, both to them and (now as I reflect) to God. Did you read about this recent study that found divorce is often every bit as damaging to kids as it’s always been?

This song started running around in my head and made me think how important a part we men play in the lives of our kids. Thanks to God and thanks to my mates here who have helped shaped me over these last years.

Listen to the song, count and then thank God for your blessings, pray for your family and mine and especially pray for marriage - so under attack in our nation, on all fronts. The prayer works!

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

I’m sure most of you know where that comes from? It’s the opening sentence of Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, referring to the time of the French Revolution.

In this, the week running up to my last Sunday at this present expression of Christ’s church, it seems to sum up how I feel. So much love and support from so many friends, some sadness, much anticipation – and one or two really annoying things to deal with too!

How about you? You may be going through some great times right now - I hope you are, in which case you can park this for another day - others are struggling along, somehow trying to make it through the toughest time of your life. Well this passage promises that our God can use how even the worst of times to do something to make the best come from them.

The famous verse is of course 8:28. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according go his purpose. Sometimes (too often) it’s been used as a cure-all catchphrase, a Christian admonition to someone really going through awful gut-wrenching pain to just cheer up. We wouldn’t say that of course, so we misquote a snippet of this verse, “God will work something out for good.”

The chapter starts with great promise but is pretty rough going at times. Look at the list of adversities and adversaries in verses 35–36: recognise any?

…tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword… As it is written, “For thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

Not exactly going to figure in the wealth and prosperity gospel favourite passages is it? I recently reread Joel Osteen’s ‘Your Best Life Now’ book and at times just hung my head at its naivety. But Paul is 100% REAL about suffering and hard times – but does that mean he curls up in the foetal position and settles in gloom? No way! For example in verse 37 he declares, “No! In all these things we are more than conquerors.” Not just conquerors, more than conquerors!

These sufferings can’t separate us from Christ, the God who suffered for us on the cross.

We may go through (Paul certainly did!) all kinds of hard times, problems, trouble, hardship, persecution, lack of clothing or food, peril and sword. Christians around the world now are persecuted for the name of Christ as he warned us in the Sermon on the Mount we would be. Our Secret Service, MI6, has recently published an alarming report in the Sunday Express magazine revealing that 200 million Christians in 60 countries around the world are at risk of suffering persecution.

But here in this passage we’re told that ‘all these things’ are not just defeated; they are more than defeated: God is so incredibly sovereign, so infinitely powerful, so immeasurably wise, that all manner of things that happen to us are ordered in such a way that they serve our good. Not just nice things, but troubles are trounced, hog-tied and turned around - made to become servants for our good.

That is what many people’s all-time favourite verse is really saying. Our hope is not that we will never go through any problems, perils or persecutions – it’s not denial, but secure confidence that our God is always Almighty, always good, and will even make our hard times instruments of his mercy to do us good. Tribulation and distress and persecution and famine and nakedness and peril and sword all work together for the good of those who love God.

Let’s look at this amazing verse more closely and you’ll see it’s like a diamond that sparkles more brightly the closer you examine it…

For we KNOW

The Greek word there for know is in the perfect tense ; “We have come to know, we know now, and we will always know…” This knowledge is settled, secure and unshakable! Nothing can dent this knowledge, or we could translate that word knowledge as, “we understand, we perceive…” this is the way faith sees and understands…

that God…

Not fate, not chance, not touching wood. God is powerful, present and personally involved in our lives. We don’t go along with Doris Day philosophy that, “Whatever will be, will be.” People say, “I’m doing okay – under the circumstances.” But our God is above the circumstances and we can be too! We look beyond the changing circumstances to the unchanging God who Jesus told us is always working…

Causes all things to work together

You need to be careful of your punctuation there! It doesn’t say God causes all things. All kinds of things - we cause ourselves. People cause so much suffering and devastation. They ask, “If there’s a God why did he…” about all kinds of bad things – but don’t pause to thank Him or give him glory for the good things. God doesn’t cause all things. Suffering is a tragic, physical evil, a consequence of our living (for the present) in a fallen world. And we have an enemy.

Terrible things you have done or were done to you were not caused by God. God doesn’t bring cancer or credit crunches in our lives to teach us a lesson. We have a choice, to shake our fist skyward, or open our hands and ask for help from heaven, and we can receive comfort and consolation from knowing ‘all manner of things’ in this world can be redeemed by God. The word ‘work together’ is just one word in the original language. It means, “partner, fellow worker.” God didn’t cause the bad thing that happened, he may have allowed it, but he didn’t cause it. And he can work amazing wonders, even from bad material.

To them that love God and are called according to His purpose

Who is this promise to? Who are its beneficiaries? Is it AVAILABLE to everyone? It is APPLICABLE to everyone? Is it to you?

That depends. You should know the answer to that question. I would say that nothing is more important. Once you have stepped in by grace into the unshakable structure that is this promise - everything changes. You can have stability in your life – and confidence for an eternal future. The worst the world can do is huff and puff, but your house will not fall down! You can tell how strong a building is by how deep its foundations and the material with which is constructed.

Eventually, the storm and the wind come to every house. You know how Jesus put it - … everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

John Piper writes : ‘The confidence that a sovereign God governs for your good all the pain and all the pleasure that you will ever experience is an absolutely incomparable refuge and security and hope and power in your life. No promise in all the world surpasses the height and breadth and weight of Romans 8:28.’

At some of the most high-profile events this summer, Elton John’s White Tie and Tiara Ball, Wimbledon, Henley Regatta and the Harrods sale, some mysterious nameless, faceless figures have appeared in the crowds.

On Henman Hill

Is it performance art as some speculated? Some celebrities in masks, trying to avoid the paparazzi? Actually no – it’s most likely an attempt at viral marketing by Lotus cars as you can find if you click here.

Better than Cliff singing?

As I saw this I was reminded of a number of prophetic words given in churches and conferences over the years about a ‘nameless and faceless’ group of people who would rise up and do amazing things for God, in fact they’d appear in some of the great stadiums of the cities of the world (I’m not sure exactly who first coined it, I heard a man called Jack Deere teach on it once).

How would it feel to be one of those nameless and faceless people? How would you qualify?

Ecclesiastes 9:14 says There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it. Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man….

Here’s my question as I read that - would I be happy if God used me to save a whole city, or to do some amazing miracles, even if nobody knew…? To be honest, it’d be a struggle for someone like me to be nameless and faceless.

While I remain convinced that the outpouring of healing at Lakeland is genuinely a work of God - albeit as always, through imperfect people, I’m sometimes concerned by the elevation of particular people. There’s nothing good about the naming of names like e.g. Benny Hinn & Kathryn Kulhman etc. some involved can fall into in a bid to seek to authenticate or bolster credibility (actually it’s a dangerous way to do it, as whoever you mention, someone will have a problem with them!). There’s also a great deal we Brits are unhappy about when it starts to look like promotion of people rather than God, and that’s a hostage to fortune.

Look at a few blogs and it’s obvious that some people are very certain (because of their presuppositions) that any reported healings etc., must be bogus, and others that Bentley & co are just in it as a money making scam. Perhaps I’d point them to the message on the Lotus site … true character will emerge.

Well, not everyone’s healed for sure - but if the miracles claimed are real they’ll speak for themselves for anyone listening – by the way, my daughter’s back is still healed by a sovereign touch - not from Todd Bentley but from the Holy Spirit apart from human agency in the worship at Lakeland. Jesus said, “Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”

We’re not to worship the signs anyway, but the Lord the signs point to. If I was travelling to a city and saw a sign pointing to it, I wouldn’t get out and hug the sign! But if the sign points me along the right path (look at Proverbs 4 for that) then I’ll be sure to embrace the one the sign is directing me toward.

We have to resist any temptation to name drop – you can’t drop human names while lifting up the name of Jesus.

]]> http://anthonydelaney.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/nameless-and-faceless/feed/ anthonydelaney On Henman Hill Better than Cliff singing? http://anthonydelaney.wordpress.com/2008/07/01/jesus-has-answer-to-knife-gang-nightmare/ http://anthonydelaney.wordpress.com/2008/07/01/jesus-has-answer-to-knife-gang-nightmare/#comments Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:47:01 +0000 anthonydelaney http://anthonydelaney.wordpress.com/?p=154

Still going through reading the wisdom in the Bible’s book of Proverbs, on the 1^st of a new month. Proverbs 1 starts with the promises of wisdom (my version especially talks about how young men need this), before describing the lure of wickedness.

Verses 10 to 14 could have come right out of the mouths of some very lost boys who featured in a disturbing documentary I watched last night; Kids, Knives, and Broken Lives. I have also been brought to tears as I’ve read about the latest boy, Ben Kinsella, stabbed to death in London. 16 years of age!

What the teenagers featured on the show said they were looking for was, “Respect.” (‘If you don’t have respect,’ said one, ‘you don’t have nothing!’). The way they get that? By imparting fear.

Dig below the surface a little though and you saw a lot of fear in them too, these kids can’t leave their own streets!

Parenting guru Steve Biddulph reports that this macho front is a classic sign of what is called under-fathering (he says the opposite extreme of the same problem is to become and remain a ‘Mummy’s boy.’). Where are young men to look for role models?

The Bible says ‘Bad company corrupts good character.” Imagine being brought up, with little or no parental discipline or love – then a gang invites you to belong. Our nation needs some David Wilkersons to rise up, find the Nicky Cruz equivalents on our doorsteps and bring them to know the Lord who loves them. Are they too far gone for that? If you think so - you MUST watch this video:

Look at wisdom’s prescription these young men need to hear; the words of a wise HEAVENLY Father:

….if bad companions tempt you,
don’t go along with them.
If they say—”Let’s go out and raise some hell.
Let’s beat up some old man, mug some old woman.
Let’s pick them clean
and get them ready for their funerals.
We’ll load up on top-quality loot.
We’ll haul it home by the truckload.
Join us for the time of your life!
With us, it’s share and share alike!”—
….don’t give them a second look;
don’t listen to them for a minute.
They’re racing to a very bad end,
hurrying to ruin everything they lay hands on.

From the Message – Proverbs 1

]]> http://anthonydelaney.wordpress.com/2008/07/01/jesus-has-answer-to-knife-gang-nightmare/feed/ anthonydelaney http://anthonydelaney.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/wise-enough-to-know-our-limitations/ http://anthonydelaney.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/wise-enough-to-know-our-limitations/#comments Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:16:38 +0000 anthonydelaney http://anthonydelaney.wordpress.com/?p=145

Proverbs 30 is ‘the sayings of Agur son of Jakeh.’

That’s all we know for sure about him, except that :

1) He was wise. A keen observer of nature - he philosophised from and about it. He drew sharp analogies about life from observation of (for example) ants, fire - even locusts, lizards and leeches! (three great Ls for a preacher there… ). The name ‘Agur’ means collector - he compiled knowledge wherever available. I bet he’d have loved the internet!

2) He was willing to admit what he didn’t know: There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand…

Only three or four? Wow - good going! I’m sure there was more, he was perhaps saying, “Today, I’m struggling to get my head around these particular things…”

I read a great book, “How to think like Leonardo da Vinci.”

The author notes how that great polymath was continually curious, asking questions and learning to applying knowledge in practical situations and learning from mistakes. He honed all his senses to observe in a way that combined science and art and formed connections between different observations and problems. The book has fantastic suggestions throughout to help us grow in such wisdom utilising Da Vinci’s techniques - for example, carrying a little notebook everywhere to record your thoughts, questions and ideas.

Leonardo was of course famously centuries ahead of his time - but the unknown Agur was ahead of him!

The Bible says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” It starts when we know what we don’t know. Agur had the humility to know that however clever he was, he still had a lot to learn about the God who made the lion and the lizard: He starts:“I am the most ignorant of men; I do not have a man’s understanding. I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.”

He finishes by warning of the danger of self exaltation.

“If you have played the fool and exalted yourself….clap your hand over your mouth!”

Wisdom indeed. But I think I’ll keep quiet.

Last night we had a meal with a dear friend who is from Zimbabwe and has family still out there. Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the ‘violent sham’ of a presidential election saying he could not let other people keep on risking their lives for him. The press have shown us hopeless people queuing at the polls to choose between Mugabe or Mugabe.

Meanwhile the tyrant thundered on Friday that only God will be able to remove him from power. With the continued weaknesses of his neighbours in the SADC and the United Nations etc. unwilling to do much more than tut tut at widespread torture and killings, he may well be right. Amnesty reports that, “…murderers, torturers, and other perpetrators of human rights violations are left at large and given free rein to commit further human rights violations with impunity.”

But as we’re going through this ‘read a chapter or Proverbs each day’ pattern, Zoë read through Proverbs 28 today at breakfast time and said, “I can’t help thinking this really relates to Mugabe.”

As I look through it now, there are descriptions, warnings and a promise that Mr Mugabe – and anyone who seeks to govern - should heed. We must pray and claim the power of God’s word - in the face of a man who defies His authority.

Descriptions

A ruler who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no crops.

Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law resist them.

Evil men do not understand justice

…when the wicked rise to power, men go into hiding.

Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked man ruling over a helpless people.

A tyrannical ruler lacks judgment

Warnings

When the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding; but when the wicked perish, the righteous thrive.

The wicked man flees though no one pursues

Better a poor man whose walk is blameless than a rich man whose ways are perverse.

If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law,even his prayers are detestable.

He who leads the upright along an evil path will fall into his own trap,

He who conceals his sins does not prosper

Blessed is the man who always fears the LORD, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.

A man tormented by the guilt of murder will be a fugitive till death;

He who trusts in himself is a fool

He who closes his eyes to the poor receives many curses.

Promises

He whose walk is blameless is kept safe, but he whose ways are perverse will suddenly fall.

He who increases his wealth by exorbitant interest amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor.

The blameless will receive a good inheritance.

When the righteous triumph, there is great elation!

May the Lord who Mugabe acknowledges CAN depose him, do it swiftly for the sake of that nation!