Thomas Creedy

Reflections on the/a Gay Marriage Debate

2013-05-20T14:42:00.002+01:00

As regular readers of this blog over the past year or so will know, I have invested time and ink (and even some money!) in the debate over the redefinition of marriage in the UK. I've tried to be incredibly specific, not getting my attention taken by the transformation, rejection and manipulation of various marriage laws in other countries, or various U.S. States. Its been an interesting journey. Sometimes I've had to bite my toungue, moderate comments, or just give up on a conversation. Other times it has been immensely liberating to explain things to someone, and see eyes and minds click. Regardless, it has been a significant debate.

Unfortunately, the entire issue has been marked with a great deal of apathy. From, apparently, everyone. This could mean that everyone who hasn't shown an interest is pro, or anti, or it could mean neither of the above. It could justify a referendum. It could not. Yet apathy remains. Statistics are published proving everything every which way - polls, it seems, can be massaged to get the figures you desire. And my personal experience of people - religious and non-religious, LGBT and not, political and a-political - has been interesting on this issue.

All the various themes were brought together last week when I, along with various people from various small groups, went along to a meeting on the topic of the redefinition of marriage held by a local MP. You can read one reflection/report on that evening here. It makes, in my opinion for depressing reading. And, I believe, it represents something of a microcosm of the national debate.

First, let me lay my cards on the table: I am a Christian, and whilst I love LGBT people, I don't think marriage should be redefined. My thoughts in this post will begin, then, with a brief set of Christian observations...

Many Christians forgot that the Gospel is about God's love.

Some Christians forgot that the Gospel is about God's Truth as well as love.

One observation came on the issue of the greatest commandment. We are told that the greatest commandment, the thing that Christians should be known for, is loving one another. Amen. But that isn't actually the greatest commandment. In the words of Jesus in Mark 12:28-34, the greatest commandment is something else; "you shall love the Lord with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength". The second, as a heart-overflow of the first, is to "love your neighbour as yourself". The Christian position on ethical issues should come first from establishing what God has said and second be articulated in terms of love for everyone.

The tone of the debate that evening was not, with a few notable exceptions, one of love. I would not expect this - it is far easier to throw terms around than it is to actually engage gracefully with substantive arguments. In many cases - and this is an observation I would make on both sides of the debate - there is a frightening lack of awareness of reality. Some examples:

Those on the 'pro' side...
- are apparently unaware of the meaning of marriage as it is currently enshrined in law
- are apparently unaware of the strength of feeling that religious beliefs can cause
- are apparently unaware of the consequences of rushing the redefinition of marriage
- are apparently closeted in a certain set of world-views and ideas that make debate with another opinion impossible

Those on the 'anti' side (which would include myself!)...
- are often definitely, from a Christian perspective, lacking the love element of the Christian Gospel
- are often, for many reasons, completely unaware of the reality of living life as an LGBT person in the UK
- are often, for many reasons, naive about the kinds of language used in political debates
- are often, though not exclusively in danger of appearing or downright being bigoted
- are often closeted in a certain set of world-views and ideas that make debate with another opinion impossible

One of the issues that was raised that evening - and is one of the un-addressed elements of the debate - is that of cost. Whilst it is slightly irritating to be reassured that 'all the gay weddings will pay for it', it does seem that there has not been enough work done on the costings. Two points come to mind; firstly the cost of changing computer software - one Government estimate, according to a friend with a background in relevant IT, is £2-4 million, and that is just software! Secondly, there is the issue of the committees, lawsuits, and huge range of cases that are essentially guaranteed to sort through the bill's as yet unforeseen aftermath.

The moral dimension, and the literal word-meaning dimension, of the whole debate is also frightening. A question was asked at the meeting along the lines of 'what about incest?'. The response was one that ridiculed a valid question. On what moral grounds, once you have redefined marriage from its constant core, can you still assert that, for example, a gay father and gay son cannot get married? Peter Ould makes this, and a number of other excellent points in posts beginning with his 'Questions for the Same-Sex Marriage Debate'. A second observation comes regarding definition. I will let my friends observation in an email suffice here;

"The young lesbian lady who made such a passionate plea about wanting to get married seemed to be the saddest case of all. When she thinks of "marriage" at the moment" her brain pulls in all the attributes that are attached to the concept perhaps better recognised as "heterosexual marriage". Once the meaning of the word is changed it no longer has all those attributes. In the act of generalising the term "marriage" to include additional categories, she loses the very concept she desires"

Valid point.

This touches on one of the key issues in the debate. What the Bill is proposing is not equality. There will be no Civil Partnerships for Heterosexual couples. There is no definition of consummation adultery and similar for same-sex couples. What will be created will not be 'equal marriage', or even 'gay-marriage', but instead gender-neutral-marriage, with all the attendant problems that will bring. The Bill fails on even its own definition of equality! Equality, in its true sense, is much bigger and better than this Bill proposes. Because Equality on its own is not enough. As an over-riding principle it is insufficient, and as a one-size fits all approach it is inadequate. It fails to recognise the constant tension and unity of humanity. I explored what this means in my post 'True Equality', which I'd recommend you read.

Finally, I want to come in to close by a brief discussion of the use, constant and unceasing in this poorly-held debate (I refer here to the national debate!) on marriage, of 'homophobic'. This word has a broadly subjective definition, and ranges from the obvious 'fear of homosexuality' to the commonly used 'against homosexual equality'. Many Christians throughout the years have run the full gamut of Homophobia, and I believe Al Mohler's challenge to the Church on this issue is prophetic. This word is often used to close down a discussion. In a liberal democracy, that is unaccessible. I don't personally want to cross the rubicon and invent the word 'heterophobic', I would rather partake in public discourse that went beyond name-calling and soundbites.

Wouldn't you?

I close by merely stating what I have been saying throughout this debate. The Church needs to do a better job of relating to culture in general, and the LGBT Community in particular. I'm working on what is rapidly becoming a book on that topic. The Government has rushed this process, and has ended up with flawed and unequal (by any standards) legislation that is not fit for purpose. The mood of the people is not clear, Stonewall can be wrong, and the numbers just don't add up. Gay marriage needs to be at the very least better thought through, and ideally in mind not legalised, not out of some anti-LGBT mentality, but because there are better things to do, and it would not represent a recognisable extension of marriage.

I hope this post has made sense. I realise it has been long. And probably rambling. And definitely trying to do too many things. But I hope that we can dialogue on this issue. Respectfully. I apologise if I offend. But I honestly think that speaking out on this issue is necessary. Even as it links to a wider Crisis of Human-Hood. I'd encourage you to read my post 'Christianity and Homosexuality: A New Approach", to understand some of the religious background to what I'm saying. I'd also recommend Cranmer's piece dismantling exactly what is wrong with the Bill. And if you agree with me, keep letting your MP's know, and above all, if you pray, pray.

Thank-you for reading.

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Book Review: New Testament Wisdom for Everyone

2013-05-20T13:50:00.001+01:00

Continuing in a stream of 'For Everyone' books, Tom Wright has produced yet another. Following on from his recent (and very good) "New Testament Prayer for Everyone", I am reviewing today "New Testament Wisdom for Everyone". In a similar physical style and size to other title in the 'FE' series, this is a nice little book with real practical value.

The book is divided neatly into five sections, and within each there is a short exposition of a variety of New Testament texts that relate specifically to the question at hand. The opening chapter is quite foundational - "The Wisdom of the Spirit", and here Wright spends a lot of time in 1 Corinthians, but also in James. I love one of his starting points, which I reproduce here, and is representative of the value and thought in this book;

"Christianity is not simply a set of beliefs and a rule-book for life, such as anyone could master in a weekend. It is as many-sided as the world itself, full of beauty and mystery and power, and as terrifying and wonderful as God himself. There is always much, much more to learn, to relish, to delight in"

Big stuff. And this echoes Wright's passion - to welcome even the casual reader into a deeper understanding of what the New Testament teaches, of what following Jesus looks like. The starting point for this, even as it is the starting chapter of this book, is the 'Wisdom of the Spirit'.

The second chapter begins with one of my family's favourite passages, Romans 12:1-2, the wonderful 'Living Sacrifices' section. This is a fitting starting point for this second chapter, arguably a response to the first, 'The Transformation of the Self'. Rather than being some form of flakey new-age spirituality, this is instead good biblical stuff from Wright as he works out the practical implications of what this means. There is a helpful correction to the dualism that many Christians inadvertently believe, as he observes;

"For Paul, the mind and body are closely interconnected, and must work as a coherent team. Having one's mind renewed and offering God one's body (verse 1) are all part of the same complete event".

The middle two (Third and Fourth) chapters of this slim book deal with two key issues in Christianity. The first, titled 'The greatest of the virtues', goes to the core of what Christianity is. Following the order and priorities of Jesus, Wright emphasises helpfully that first comes the love of God, out of which flows the love of others. This is the necessary and proper response to God first loving us. Wright then helpfully examines what it means to love one another, the character of that love, and what it means to say that 'God is Love'. Wright's treatment of 'The path of the disciple' is another helpful chapter, and could easily be expanded out into a book length treatment (New Testament Discipleship for Everyone, anyone?).

The closing chapter, perhaps appropriately, deals with the end of the world. Titled 'The renewal of the world', this is a helpful look at a variety of the issues involved in talking about the Kingdom of God and Eschatology, and offers a helpful introduction to some of the myriad of issues here. There is a wonderful, hopeful balance of some of the tensions, and a powerful faith in Gods promises at work in Wright's writing here.

I enjoyed this little book. It will go on my shelf alongside others a book that brings together various vital threads of Christianity. It isn't a full treatment of the issues raised, but it is a helpful primer on the Wisdom of the New Testament, and perhaps a wonderful doorway for new Christians into understanding some of wild and wonderful truths of the Gospel. I'd recommend it to new Christians, those involved in working with them, and anyone looking for a holistic and biblical approach to Christianity.

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On the topic of the Love of God, I'd recommend you read Don Carsons' "The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God", as a way of expanding on discussions here. On the topic of Discipleship, I'd recommend Michael Horton's "The Gospel Commission". On the tricky topic of the end of the World, I'd heartily commend Simon Ponsonby's "And the Lamb Wins", and also Anthony Thiselton's "The Last Things".

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Theology: More than an Academic Subject

2013-05-18T17:06:00.002+01:00

This is the slightly edited text of a talk I gave at the launch of the Nottingham Theology Network Group. This is a new group as part of Nottingham University Christian Union (NUCU), supported by Theology Network, and run by students. I was excited to be speaking at it as the group has been something I have felt is sorely needed, and am privileged to be involved in supporting it.

Enjoy...

Theology: More than just an academic Subject?

I want to explore today the idea that Theology is more than just an academic subject. I completely agree with that title, and I still read and write a good deal of what I call ‘theology’, even as I prepare to re-enter study in October. If we are going to be intellectually honest, spiritually aware, and have the integrity to be open, then studying theology should change us. If we are Christians, it should inform, challenge, encourage, and stimulate our faith. If we hold another or no faith position, then it should lead us to consider the claims of the faiths we study, the rationale behind many of our peers, and allow us to understand the ‘why’ of many conflicts, positions, histories and ideas in our culture. Theology, then, is an academic subject that, as the great philosopher once said, “opens a whole can of worms”. To study theology is to think well, I hope.

I want to first look at three famous figures in the field of theology, all historical, and examine how they involved their love of Jesus, in a personal, relational, evangelical way, with their position as theological giants. I then, drawing on examples from these three giants, would like to look at how Doctrine, that dry and rigid word, can inform our spiritual lives with power. Finally I want to look briefly at the idea of truth claims in relation to studying theology, particularly the truth claim at the core of orthodox Christianity, the Gospel itself.

1) The Greats all loved Jesus

Augustine - hopefully you are all aware of who he is, some of what he said, and the impact that he has had on the Church. But one of the greatest things about Augustine is his personal story. You hopefully have read it, as a part of your ‘Great Religious Texts’ or Early Church History modules. Its his famous ‘Confessions’. In that little book, we see the fervent devotion of one of the greatest minds of Christian history. Mike Reeves points out that;

“it is not quite an autobiography... unlike autobiographies, it is written as a prayer. It is a confession to God, both of his own sin, and of God’s grace to him. It is his testimony”

He was no cold, calculating academic. Like many others, Augustine was a man who loved Jesus and all of his work was an example and outworking of that love. Indeed, Augustine opens his Confessions with the following beautiful quote;

“Great are you, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is your power, and of your wisdom there is no end. Man, being a part of your creation, longs to praise you. He carries his mortality with him, the sign of his sin, the proof that you thwart the proud. Yet man, as part of your creation, still longs to praise you. You arouse us to delight in praising you, for you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in you”

(Confessions 1.1.1)

This, I hope, this praiseworthy, powerful, wise creator God, is the God we worship and known. Its the God Augustine knew, and spent his life serving and talking about. Yet this great servant of the Church stated emphatically that “our hearts are restless until they find rest in you”.

Calvin - those of you that know me may know that I am, despite the usual acid, a big fan of John Calvin. In fact, I did my BA Dissertation on his view of the sovereignty of God. John Calvin has been integral to my spiritual life, both personally and theologically. His commentaries take up almost 4 feet of my shelves, and I have several well-read copies of his Institutes. And this is the thing about Calvin. His great ‘systematic theology’, the summary of all his theology, was in fact intended as a handbook of instruction for Christians. His genius flows from his work as a biblical theologian, simply seeking to bring the truths alive from the text.

John Calvin was immensely busy when he was alive. Preaching almost every day, training pastors, and trying to persuade Geneva to become like his vision of a godly city. He never quite succeeded, but his life serves as an inspiration to modern day Christians, even as he is a source text for theology students the world over. He was a man of knowledge, great learning, and an ability to understand and apply the Word of God that makes his commentaries relevant to student, pastor and professor alike even 500 years later. I love this quote from early on in the Institutes,

“Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts, the knowledge of God and of ourselves"

Mike Reeves helpfully observes on this that;

“The knowledge of God and ourselves are intertwined.. a man cannot know God until he knows himself as a sinner against God, his Creator”

It is from that realization of revelation that biblical faith can come, and it is from that origin that Calvin was the prodigious and accomplished theologian who takes such a place among the giants of the faith.

Bonnhoeffer - my final giant who loved Jesus is the famous German pastor, academic and person-who-plotted-against-Hitler - Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I’ve been reading recently a brilliant new biography of him, by an American writer called Eric Metaxas. If you want something to read, read it, its brilliant. Bonnhoeffer is best known for his part in a plot to kill Hitler, but he also was a pastor, ran an underground seminary (a training college for pastors separate from the Nazi-controlled state church), and authored some important books, as well as keeping a vibrant and comprehensive correspondance. Several volumes of his ‘Works’ are just books of letters.

Bonnhoeffer loved Jesus. And he was seriously clever. His death at the relatively young age of 39 - think of the average age of our/your lecturers and the fact that at over 70, Anthony Thiselton has released some major works - deprived the world of some great theology. He wrote his Phd Dissertation - which takes three years in modern understanding - in just 18 months! And it was no lightweight - Bonnhoeffer asked the question “What is the Church”, and concluded ultimately that it was, as Metaxas summarizes in his biography,

“neither a historical entity nor an institution, but as “Christ existing as church-community””

Bonnhoeffer was a serious man of faith, a serious man of faith made action, and a serious theologian. But he understood what it was to follow Jesus. He viewed prayer as something powerful;

“offering intercessory prayer means nothing other than Christians bringing one another into the presence of God, seeing each other under the cross of Jesus as poor human beings and sinners in need of grace. Then, everything about other people that repels me falls away”

This is simple gospel stuff, demonstrating that to hold orthodox, powerful Christian beliefs is no bar to doing real and valid theology.

2) The power of Doctrine for Christian Living

Emulating some of the theological greats whose voices can’t be ignored millennia, centuries and decades after their passing, is a demonstration of the extra dimension of theology, what makes it more than an academic subject.

Augustine grew up a pagan, in both the spiritual and classical senses. His grasp of Christian doctrine was non-existant. But coming into contact with Orthodox Christian teaching on Sin led him to consder the claims of Christianity, and the rest, as they say, is history. We live in a pagan culture, we need the power of things that have been true for millennia, and will be true for eternity, in order to effectively study and articulate theology. Without a genuine understanding of what we are doing and believing, then our theological study is going to choke our spiritual life, and damage the churches we are part of. Theology is dangerous, but it is also the way to life. Augustine grasped that. The power of good, true Doctrine propelled him into being the giant of Christian intellectual history that we know him as being.

Calvin had a similarly non-specifically-Christian upbringing. In fact, he originally trained as a Lawyer. A noble profession. He first came to know Jesus as he studied the controversy stirred up by the early reformers, such as Luther. Some of the most controversial doctrines of the day were being discussed and debated - and this ignited something in Calvin’s young mind. The result, by way of different thinkers, universities and cities, was the amazing kingdom ministry of word and sacrament that Calvin ultimately had in Geneva. Calvin was a man who loved the whole counsel of God, and had a genuine desire for good doctrine. This was no cold intellectual excercise, not doctrinaire for the sake of it. Calvin loved good doctrine because good doctrine could bring you out of the cold wastes of religion into the warmth of the Father heart of GOd. The power of good, true doctrine empowered him to write some amazing commentaries, and begin a revolution of thought and faith that still has effects today.

Bonhoeffer is perhaps the most interesting one. From a nominally Christian home, it was in contact with naturalistic lecturers who denied the reality of the Christian faith that the young Dietrich really came to know Jesus. In the ferment and occasional torment of being academically untenable as a simple evangelical, for want of a more nuanced description, Bonhoeffer wrote his amazing ‘Sanctorum Communion’, challenging the Church about the real presence of Christ among them. He survived the onslaught of German theology to end up being a spirit-filled servant of a suffering church. His theology inspired and informed his action in the underground ‘confessing church’ that defied the Nazis theologically and socially. The power of good, true doctrine enabled him to stand up to one of the greatest social secular evils this world has ever known.

From our three giants, we can see that Doctrine can directly impact our lives. As it should. Devotionally, evangelistically, apologetically Doctrine should impact us. When we worship, our Doctrine can deepen our understanding of God’s loving embrace of us. When we come into contact with uncomfortable ideas, sound doctrine can keep us steady, and give us a framework with which to engage with anything.

3) The Joy and Privilege of Studying the Truth

I can honestly say its been a privilege to prepare this talk. To have easy access to Bonhoeffer’s work, scribbled during the Second World War and often in impenetrable German, the English translation is wonderful. To be able to read accurate translations, too, of Augustines precise latin and personal prose is a wonderful thing. The deposit of the past should not be underestimated. And it is a privilege to study theology. A privilege that points to something greater.

Theology used to be called ‘The Queen of the sciences’. It was one of, if not the, founding subject of many of the great universities. It was called the queen because it allows the educated person to understand everything, through the lens of of God’s word, regardless of their academic training. Studying theology does not make someone a genius, but it does give anyone the ability to engage critically, carefully and gracefully with ideas. There is something greater behind the beauty and versatility of theology.

Church history is as much the study of theology as it is a part of theology. To engage with Church history - even if that means talking about past festivals or recent publications - is to be doing theology. The conversations we all have with our friends of all sorts of persuasions are doing theology. Bringing the perspective of history to bear on contemporary squabbles - over women leaders, the innerrancy of the bible, the centrality of the atonement, etc - is a very helpful way to avoid the idiocy of chronological snobbery. None of us here has done as much work on anything as most of the big voices of the past. It all points to something greater.

Behind all good theology is a radical idea. That God exists, has spoken, and can be known. That the God the Heavenly Father exists and created the world, that he sent his son Jesus Christ who came to earth and spoke and lived as a man, and that the Holy Spirit roams around the earth to make this all known. The Gospel is still, after thousands of years of theological reflection, true. The Gospel is still, after thousands of years of theological over-complication, simple. The consensus of Church teaching is simple. Jesus, the son of God, was born of a virgin and taught amazing things, accompanied by miracles that by definition defy any other form of science. He died for our sins, the same sin that every person carries in their nature, and was raised again. He will come again, beause he is alive. In the meantime, there is the Church, holy and catholic and universal, empowered by the Holy Spirit as Christ’s represenatives and body on earth. The Gospel is simple, the Gospel is true, it is the power of God to save his created and loved children. God exists, has spoken, and can be known. And what he has said and done is worth studying. Worth arguing about. Worth spending time cogitating over.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that;

“the grace of the gospel, which is hard for the pious to comprehend, confronts us with the truth/ It says to us, you are a sinner, a great unholy sinner. Now come, as the sinner that you are, to our God who loves you. For God wants you as you are, not desiring anything from you - a sacrifice, a good deed - but rather desiring you alone. “my child, give me your heart” (Prov 23:26)”

Amen. That is God’s invitation to the theologian, to the student of truth; give him your heart.

Theology is more than an academic subject. Good doctrine changes everything, because God changes everything when we realise who he is and how good he is. I’m excited about exploring that with you guys next term and next year, and hopefully for longer than that. I’d love to field a few questions, otherwise eat cake, enjoy, and lets talk about Theology!

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If you've enjoyed this and/or other posts, then do like my Facebook Page or connect with me on Twitter! I'd also recommend - if some of the ideas here have piqued your interest - reading my review of the mentioned Mike Reeves' superb 'The Unquenchable Flame'.

The Crisis of Human-Hood: One Christian Response

2013-05-15T12:21:00.001+01:00

The last week or so have seen a variety of stories echoing the futility of a secular, narrow understanding of what it means to be human. I'm not in this post going to be advocating for anything approaching a theocracy or even a return to 'the good old days' of moral uprightness, enforced-collar wearing, and ankle-coverings. Because that doesn't represent the Jesus I follow or the grand redemptive view of humanity that the Bible paints for us. I want to briefly look in this post at the way in which humanity - in a few different specific cases - has been devalued, and why that is something we should all be concerned about.

- 0 -

My starting point is the Christian story, the explanation of everything that I believe to be true. And one of the fundamentals of that story, one of the inherent assumptions in an authentically Christian worldview, is the view of humanity, human beings, that comes from their creator. Historically, this has been called 'Imago Dei', and has provided the grounding for the value and worth of human beings that only the external authority of a creating, relating, sustaining and redeeming God can provide. I've written a post on Imago Dei before. It is from this starting point, the inherent value and worth of all human beings, that a Christian can speak into problems facing our culture.

- 1 -

There is a crisis of Human-Hood for babies and the unborn. I don't want to get bogged down in discussion of the ethics surrounding abortion here - it is an incredibly complex issue that requires careful and prayerful engagement - but the underlying assumptions behind abortion are terrifying. In my popular post 'Slippery Slopes, Dodgy Assumptions and Imago Dei', I commented on the story that broke a while back about the idea of 'post-birth abortions'. Literal child murder. A discussion of the ethics of this appeared in an important medical journal. Since then we've seen the horror of the Kermit Gosnell (don't read if you are squeamish, seriously) case in the United States. Unless you have a thought-through understanding of the value of human life, you have no grounds on which to condemn this man's vile practices. I believe that an informed Christian perspective is the only solution to the horrors that can arise when man is given free-reign over what is 'moral'. The crisis of human-hood comes when the rights of a father, a mother, and an unborn child are separated out, given different value, and fiat passed down upon each situation. The Christian message of Grace can speak directly even to the most brutal and horrific situations, because it is driven by a God who can and does redeem from even the worst.

- 2 -

There is a crisis of Human-Hood in relation to the early-adulting of Children. I'm thinking particularly of the over-sexualisation of our culture, the way that pornography is invasive, and the ease (frighteningly so) with which children can come into contact with even explicit pornography with very little difficulty. There are so many conflicting and complicated issues at play here. Put simply, though, Pornography devalues human beings in general, sex as a thing, and women in particular. It is a literal defacing of the image of God in human beings, and of the value and worth of sex as a beautiful part of Gods design. Again, I do not wish to claim to have all the answers, but a traditional sexual ethic, as the Bible joyfully and consistently proclaims, shifts the focus in relationships from individuals to something bigger. A Christian understanding of sex and pornography lifts the worth of individuals, calls for justice from those trapped in systems of oppression, and makes space for freedom and conversation on a topic so often polarised and exclusive. For our Children's sake, regardless of what we might personally believe is appropriate for adults, we need to think about the Porn Problem. And the over-sexualisation of female images in the media, for instance the re-branding of a Disney Princess to a Barbie-lookalike, something about which you can sign a petition here.

- 3 -

There is a crisis of Human-Hood in relation to the treatment and value of women. I've written before about the need to support Ending Violence against Women - and that is an ongoing concern. I have great sympathy and respect for many feminist concerns, but occasionally I feel that trajectory can have unintended consequences. Regardless, however, I strongly feel that God's design for women is far greater than anything the secular world can come up with - because I agree with a Guest Poster that Jesus was (amongst other things!) a Feminist, and that the Bible values women far more than many people think. As we see in Johns Gospel. The Christian perspective on Women liberates every human being, as it speaks into every situation where womens rights are specifically squashed. The Gospel brings liberation and hope to situations. It brings restoration and healing to relationships. It brings real life. Often, however, as the great feminist charge is levelled, there is something to be said for the failure of men. And this is where I want to start to close.

- 4 -

There is a huge crisis of Human-Hood in relation to manhood, masculinity, and the myriad of related issues. Because men are not taught what it is to be a man, let alone be a human, the knock on effect is huge. There was a depressing article in the Guardian about Diane Abbott's speech on the issue. Do read it. And the Church is often guilty of this as well. When we limit manhood to a blunt-edged, narrow way, we limit reality. And we end up with unsatisfactory results. I believe that one of the causes of societal breakdown is the gradual marginalisation of family and community - though there are occasionally encouraging signs in the latter. I've written before about the idiocy - even though to be honest it is to be entirely expected given the lack of clarity - of so-called 'LAD Culture', and this kind of thing is a real issue. It is prevalent throughout society, from top to bottom, and misogyny and chauvinism rear their ugly heads in a variety of ways.

This crisis of Man-hood is prevalent in the Church today. There is too much talk of 'courage' and 'warrior's as being a defining trajectory of biblical manhood. I would rather stress 'responsibility' and 'integrity'. Not every man is called to be a father - but every man is called to be a contributor to community. This notion of community is in stark contrast to our consumerist, individualist culture. But the Christian concept comes from the very being of God, as Trinity, God is himself a loving community of Persons. Not every man is called to be a 6ft 5", muscled warrior - but every man is called to work and live. The Christian understanding of manhood is supremely expressed in Jesus, and his sacrifice on the Cross. The models of manhood we see throughout the Bible represent the patchwork of individuals that God is redeeming. So we see mighty warriors like Samson, and great builders like Noah. But we also see wonderful musicians like David, and men grappling authentically with everything like Job. In Jesus own life we see courage and boldness - but we also see submission and servitude. I believe that manhood looks different for different men - but that to be a man you must first be a human being.

- 5 -

Throughout this post I've been alluding to a 'Christian view of human-hood'. As a solution to and a way out of so many of the problems in our culture. And it starts with a recognition of something good, something bad, and a way that makes sense of those two poles of being. First of all, the good. People - every single toast-eating, texting, swimming, toilet-filling, heart-breaking, socially-infuriating, awe-inspiring person on this planet - has an amazing value and worth because they are made in the image of their Creator, God. This simple fact - regardless of actions, circumstance, lifestyle - is the basic fact of human existence. Then there is the less welcome news. That image came from God, and finds its fullest expression in relationship with him. But most people aren't. And that is because of sin. Sin is what separates us from God, its the root of all of the crises in human-hood that I've been looking at. Its pervasive. It totally depraves and affects us. We are still made in God's image. But its a broken, distorted thing.

But that isn't the whole story. You see the Christian story is centered on the Cross of Christ. More specifically, it is centered on the person who hung there. God himself came and lived amongst us as Jesus, a man, the Son of God. He knew what it was to be human, to feel human, to live as a human. As a man. And he had one very specific mission. To repair the relationship between God and man. To forgive sins. Which he did. By dying bloodily on a cross outside Jerusalem 2000 years ago. Which would be great. Except the reality is even greater. He rose again. And he didn't just rise to let us know he meant it, that we are forgiven. He rose to demonstrate that when we follow Jesus, when we identify and align ourselves with him, we end up with something better. A restored relationship with God, and a gradual and unstoppable restoration of the image of God in each of us. The Good News of the Christian Gospel starts with your forgiveness and goes on through your transformation and will one day find rest in the restoration of God's kingdom in all creation: what Christians call heaven.

The start of that - and its a journey, a family, and a call - is simple. Pray a prayer. Ask God to forgive your sins. And make the simplest confession, the simplest prayer, that Christians have every prayed, the starting point: Jesus is Lord. I don't claim that following Jesus, believing the Bible and so on, instantly solves all your eternal problems or answers every question. But it does bring you into knowing the one who made and knows everything. Jesus. The King of everything. There is a crisis in our culture of what it means to be human, of what it means to know anything, or what it means to be a man or a woman. But the solution is found in Jesus, the one who made and loves us. And walking with him to a better place. In community. Towards the great feast at the end of this age that will be beyond our imagining. That, I believe, is a Christian response to the crisis of Human-Hood.

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Beyond that first and primary shift - the one in your own heart - I'd really recommend a few things to read, ways of informing attitudes. I was encouraged by my discovery of 'WE ARE MAN', and there are good things I have learned from their. There is also the 'Good Men Project', an often frustrating attempt to work out what it means to be a good man, but they have hosted two posts of mine, 'Sugar Daddies' and 'Gender and Grace'. I'd also love to commend to you 'Jesus, Lover of My Soul', which shares a little of the journey I've been on with masculinity and Jesus. Finally, to bring it back to the main thing, I'd encourage you to read 'When Causes become our Christ'. An invitation to a deeper story, a full reality, a real life, and a relationship with Jesus.

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If you've come across my blog for the first time, are a regular reader, or just want to stay up to date, do follow me on Twitter or 'like' my page on Facebook. It would be great to connect!

Book Review: Four Gospels, One Jesus?

2013-05-14T14:54:00.000+01:00

It feels slightly odd to be reviewing a book that has boldly on its cover 'classics' - as it makes me feel guilty I haven't read it before! Fortunately, SPCK has seen fit to re-release, in its 'SPCK Classics' imprint, Richard Burridge's "Four Gospels, One Jesus?". This helpful book seeks to calmly, critically and carefully walk the reader - and it is pitched well at any interested parties who can read - through the complexities of having four Gospels and one Jesus.

Burridge works methodically through the four Gospels, having given a thorough, concise and very helpful introduction to the basic components of Gospel scholarship. This opening section is one of the strengths of this book - you can read and understand it without having to be of a particularly 'theological' mind, and the author is an able guide. This sets the tone for the rest of the book, as Burridge walks through the Four Gospels, in a symbolic reading, using the tools he has shown the reader in the first section. This is a helpful, methodical and logical work of introductory theology.

This useful book has a clear subtitle, which provides structure once we move beyond the introduction. Burridge is seeking to give us 'A symbolic reading' of the Four Gospels. Burridge builds on several traditional images for the Gospels. First up, following the canonical order, is "The Roar of the Lion - Mark's Jesus", which is powerfully explored as a metaphor and hermeneutical principle. We then move on to "The Teacher of Israel - Matthew's Jesus", where we see especially the tensions between teacher and teaching, old and new played out. I particularly enjoyed, out of Burridge's treatments of the Gospels, Luke most of all. Here in "The Bearer of Burdens - Luke's Jesus", the author works carefully through this Gospel. Finally is "The High-Flying Eagle - John's Jesus", where the unique concerns of John's Gospel are carefully examined.

The final section seeks to bring together the various different strands of the journey Burridge leads the reader on. "... One Jesus?" seeks to harmonise the four different Gospel portraits, and their differing emphases, into one Jesus. This is an interesting attempt to do so, and in my mind does what I believe the author intends; to lead the reader into hungering after a full expression of Jesus.

I found this book to be very helpful. On the graduated side of my BA in Theology, a lot of this was relatively straightforward, but throughout I found myself wishing I could have come across this book before starting! It is a very helpful guide to NT Jesus scholarship, that holds the readers hand as appropriate, whilst at the same time making a contribution to the literature in a helpful way. I'd highly recommend it to people looking for a book that harmonises the occasionally dissonant pictures of Jesus we see in Scripture, and also serves as an introduction to how scholars approach the Bible.

Guest Post - What is Theology Good For?

2013-05-14T10:16:00.001+01:00

Today I'm excited and honoured to have a guest post I'm very excited about. Neal Swettenham is the Theology Co-ordinator for Vineyard Churches UK and Ireland - and he's written a short post to tell us about the first ever Vineyard UK Theology Symposium! Hopefully this will be of interest to anyone with even remote theological interest, but especially to those in the Vineyard movement. I'll link to the bookings page at the bottom, but for now, enjoy!

WHAT IS THEOLOGY GOOD FOR...?

…is the question being asked at UK Vineyard’s first ever theology symposium on June 7 and 8 at Loughborough University.

The aim is to explore the vital link between good theology and healthy churches.

The keynote address will be given by Bishop Graham Cray, Archbishops' Missioner and team leader of Fresh Expressions, and there will be conference contributions from Rick Williams, Jason Clark, Chris Parsons and others.

The vision for the event is to encourage fruitful dialogue between those leading churches and those with a passion for theology from a distinctively Vineyard/kingdom perspective.

This is not just for research-intensive theologians and academics: it’s aimed at practitioners, church leaders and emerging leaders.

The event will include seminars on a wide range of topics such as kingdom perspectives on human sexuality, a theology of healing in relation to disability, a fresh look at how we understand the Bible to be God's word, and more; a methodologies session exploring effective ways of applying theological perspectives to pastoral concerns; and a full conference debate on the topic: "Without conversion there is no Christian faith...?"

The symposium runs from 6pm on Friday 7 to 4pm on Saturday 8 June, enabling those with busy schedules to attend and the venue is Burleigh Court at Loughborough University: a modern, residential conference centre with spa facilities, swimming pool, gym, bar and excellent food.

You can book your place by visiting vynd.ch/theology. Hope to see you there.

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I hope that has whet your appetite, or encouraged you to be praying for the Vineyard if you are a friend! I'm looking forward to it immensely, especially after having been privileged to be at the Society of Vineyard Scholars Conference in LA in April. You can read about that here.

If you've read my blog for the first time, or are a regular reader, then I'd love you to find and 'like' my Facebook page. You can read about that, and the recent name change in this post.

Book Review: Will You Be My Facebook Friend?

2013-05-13T15:14:00.000+01:00

I'm a big fan of Tim Chester, and usually thoroughly enjoy his books. I found his "Busy Christians Guide to Busyness" incredibly helpful whilst at university, and his recent "A Meal with Jesus" was superb. Chester does a great job of engaging with issues well, and really thinking about what the Gospel might say to the presenting reality. When I heard that he was going to publish a book on social media and the gospel, I was pretty excited. When I got my hands on it, however, I was slightly disappointed.

This isn't as good as most of what Tim Chester writes. There is some good stuff in here, but by and large I was slightly underwhelmed. But lets start with the good.

Chester diagnoses a real and definite issue, the social phenomenon of the internet and new media. It is good that he opens his short study with the observation that 'new technologies reflect humanity's God-given, Godlike creativity. God gave us a mandate to take his world and invent, create, produce. Social networking brings many benefits'. The opening thoughts here are positive, and arguably deserve more treatment, but Chester does at least acknowledge that Social media can be a good thing. We move swiftly onto dangers, as one might expect, and it is at this point that I believe this little book departs from Chester's normal high standards and becomes over-comfortable with the short format (less than 50 pages...) to avoid engagement.

Another positive is the mere existence of this book - a book written by a Gospel-focused, Spirit-filled, thoughtful conservative evangelical on the up-and coming topic of Social media is indeed a rare thing, and so this is a welcome book. I would, however, love to see Chester expand out on what he says here, as it seems to fall short of his usual high standards. The closing part of this book, however, is helpful. Because the author comes back from his engagement with social media to write how he does best - about the Gospel and its power. I can entirely agree with his observation that 'Facebook encourages you to live elsewhere. The gospel encourages you to live life here and now'. This is helpfully expanded out in a series of excellent juxtapositions - reproduced in full in this superb review...

In brief, then, why I personally don't recommend this slim and otherwise readable little book. Firstly, it simply demonstrates a lack of sustained engagement with the culture, reality and practice of social media. Many students who I know personally and am engaged in ministry with use far more than Facebook - I have had sustained and helpful interactions with individuals on Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram, to name a few. This complexity is symptomatic of reality - a broad-brush simplification is not a helpful approach. There is also an uncommon lack of statistics, with some downright bizarre observations here and there which detract from the flow of the argument.

The second issue I have with 'WYBMFF' is that it represents a first attempt to engage meaningfully with Social Media, whilst due to its published nature I am sure (And have already experienced in reality!) that many Gospel-focused, eager-to-serve-and-learn leaders in evangelical churches will take this as a helpful Christian position. It might be, and it certainly serves as a firm caution to those of us who spend a lot of time on Social Media. But, ultimately, it isn't complete or nuanced enough. Recent stats show that over 50% of the UK Population is registered on Facebook (which is different from active, but still notable), and these sorts of numbers mean that any Christian, leader or otherwise, serious about missionally engaging our nation needs to be aware and clued up on Social Media. My fear is that this book will be a go-to when in fact it seems to me to be more of a first step on an exploration.

I struggled to write this view, and with several people I seriously respect offering endorsements for an author I seriously value, this review has been sat as a draft for a while. I decided to publish it because I believe these things need to be heard by some. I sincerely hope that Tim Chester will eventually come up with a blockbuster book on the topic - to join 'Meal with Jesus' and 'Busyness' on my shelves and mental recommendation list. This book, unfortunately isn't it.

When I review a book I don't recommend, I feel it is my duty to provide some alternatives, or at least point in the direction of some. I'm currently reading Tim Challies 'The Next Story', which is a fuller treatment of the digital explosion and faith. It seems promising and my review will eventually emerge here. In the meantime, I seriously recommend Al Mohler's superb article 'The Christian Leader in the Digital Age', which is an incredibly helpful introduction for leaders and Church leadership teams. If you've disagreed with my review, then do read this one instead. Otherwise, thanks for reading! There are plenty more book reviews here.

SVS Paper

2013-05-12T18:06:00.000+01:00

This is the paper I submitted for the 2013 Society of Vineyard Scholars Conference. It represents my first attempt to 'do something academic' since graduating six months ago, and is not necessarily representative of my personal position on the topic of the Lords Supper or the passage in question. At the time of writing the paper was accepted for presentation by SVS, where I presented it to positive reception (you can read my reflections on SVS2013 [and how God got me there!] HERE), and I reproduce it here for your interest.

This paper represents an attempt to provide theological justification for the practices of many Vineyard Churches regarding the Lord's Supper. It is entirely my own work, and in no way represents any church or movement. I am constantly re-assessing my view on how the mechanics of discernment work, particularly in relation to the crucial issue of the celebration of the Lords Supper. That said, I genuinely believe the approach in this paper to be a biblical, evangelical and orthodox contribution, and only make the statement I do about the 'open' nature of the table in the light of the Authority of Scripture, the Sovereignty of God, and the centrality of the proclamation of the Gospel. As with everything on this blog, and especially any attempt to write academically, I am very aware I could well be wrong, and so would love your comments!

Anyway, on with the show...

Note - in editing the paper for this blog post, the footnoting and formatting of the original were lost. I thus reproduce a bibliography at the bottom, rather than my original custom of footnoted page references.

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Gathering for the Lord’s Supper - the Table at the Center

Discernment and the Lord’s Table - A Kingdom-Lensed analysis of 1 Corinthians 11:17-33

I was influenced in my choice of title by Luke Geraty’s 2012 SVS Paper, “Towards a Vineyard Center-Set Ecclesiology: Is Church Discipline Appropriate?”, and my conceptual debt to his paper should be acknowledged. All good theology is done in the service of the Church, and there are few things more explicitly ‘church’, even in our contemporary culture, than that obscure and holy celebration of the Gospel, the Lord’s Supper. The great evangelical New Testament scholar, Howard Marshall, once said that “there is much to be said for the view that the Lord’s Supper was the central act in the normal Christian meeting week by week”. This observation came in a mid-80‘s paper titled ‘How far did the early Christians worship God?’, which I found helpful in my preparation and consideration of this central issue. Coming from a relatively strict Calvinistic Baptist background, with a reverence for the table such that a separate service is put on, I initially struggled with the relaxed approach of the Vineyard. Since then I have studied, prayed and reflected to the extent that I think, in an awareness of the validity of other approaches, it is a biblical, evangelical, and sensitive approach. All should be welcome at the table of the Lord, both because of what the table is, and who our Lord is.

The Vineyard is a ‘low-church’ movement, but with a heritage traceable through Church history by virtue of where it fits in, with regard to the Evangelical and Pentecostal streams of Church. Whilst we are low - and often don’t look much like some historical understandings/expressions of Church - we are a centered set with a defined statement of faith, and an underlying paradigm in Kingdom Theology. The Vineyard Statement of Faith goes into detail - on many issues central to Christian Faith, but is relatively brief on the ordinances of the Church. In fact, there is serious simplicity to it; “...that Jesus Christ committed two ordinances to the Church: water baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Both are available to all believers”.

The simplicity of our statement of faith on this issue arguably leaves it open to wide interpretation; indeed in conversation with one senior VCUKI leader, their attitude was ‘as long as its biblical, good!’. This is an admirable trajectory, but how can this attitude be practically and theologically reconciled with the idea of an open table, the values of the Kingdom of God, and the essence of what a Vineyard Church is? Furthermore, how can we celebrate and value the Lord’s Supper reverently and in God’s Presence when a senior voice in our movement has identified that “for many Christians the Lord’s Table doesn’t have that much significance”, and many un-churched people would not ‘get’ what on earth we are doing anyway? Because this state of affairs not how it should be. Central to an Evangelical understanding of ecclesiology, according to Paul Zahl in a collection of essays on Evangelical ecclesiology, is the notion that “the marks of the church are its preaching of the pure Word of God and the faithful administration of the two sacraments”. We can see that reflected in the Vineyard by our love for the Bible, and the fact that these two sacraments are enshrined as the ordinances in our statement of faith. Clearly, we are a church in this historic sense!

In the standard Vineyard philosophy of what ‘Church’ is, Alexander Ventner observes “five marks or characteristics of an authentic Church of Jesus Christ”, amongst which is that relevant to the discussion at hand: “Where the ordinances (sacraments) of Christ are properly administered (baptism and communion)”. This represents only a minor expansion on the Statement of faith; we could observe that a Vineyard Church will make the Lord’s Supper “available to all believers” and that it will be “properly administered”. This, however, whilst being a biblical and arguably evangelically orthodox pair of statements, does not provide us with a practical outworking. To my knowledge, the most thorough treatment from a Vineyard theologian is that of an appendix on the topic by Derek Morphew, in the 2006 and onwards revised edition of his “Breakthrough”. In that appendix, Morphew opens with an affirming yet innovative statement, that bears full reproduction;

“The way we break bread reflects the following:

It reflects the Vineyard, a young movement able to innovate with models, plus our commitment to relevance over tradition.
It reflects our commitment to the authority of scripture - linked to my own journey”

Morphew is helpful in identifying that we can innovate in the way that we celebrate the Lords Supper, but that under the authority of scripture (echoing the central Vineyard idea of being doers of the Word) we must commit to doing so. We understand what we are as ‘church’, it is thus essential to practically realize a biblically-based practice of ‘discerning the body’.

The fact that we stand in the line of history, in a specific understanding of ‘church’ - is helpful for working towards an ecclesiology, and helps guard against falling into the equal and opposite errors of rigid dogmatism and flaky pseudo-spirituality. We tread a path of holding apparent opposites in tension, seeking to honour the intent of our founders whilst looking forward in the leading of the Spirit. But, in order to do both of those, and to remain ‘church’, we must gather at the table. Otherwise, we are in blatant disregard of the injunction to “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes”. The heart of the Lord’s Supper is essentially Gospel proclamation, with Sutton Vineyard’s own Jason Clarke centring this roundly with his observation that “there is a direct connection when we do this to his death and resurrection”. The easter event is the crux of the kingdom, and it is here we can actually see what it means to be the now and the not yet people of God, the Church. In his BST commentary on 1 Corinthians, David Prior observes this trajectory; “there is an anticipatory element in every celebration of the Lord’s Supper. It looks back to his death; it looks forward to his return”. Every participant/celebrant at the Table is caught there, between death and resurrection.

All these observations in place then, we must turn to the matter at hand: who can take the Lord’s Supper, and what that will look like in an explicitly Vineyard Church context? How can we discern who can take it, and what form will that taking assume? Can a Vineyard Church operate an open table? The answers to these questions are arguable beyond the scope of a single paper, but herein hopefully some progress can be made.

The Vineyard Statement of Faith makes it very clear that the Lord’s Supper is “available to all believers”, but makes no mention of the process of knowing who these people are. Is it those who are committed, regular members of the Church? Is it those that tithe? Is it those that excercise their gifts, spiritual and secular, in the service of the Church? Former National Director Todd Hunter wrote that “conversion includes unashamedly teaching people a new vocabulary, telling them new stories, and letting them experiment with the distinctive practices of a particular community” (My emphasis added). Should we thus allow those on a journey towards Jesus to partake of his Table? We can end up chasing a variety of loose ends here, so it is appropriate to turn to Paul, and his letter correcting misunderstanding in Corinth.

Paul writes to a Church divided, even as they gather; “I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse”. What should be the purpose of coming together? For the better - the better being the Worship of God, the proclamation of the Gospel, and the fellowship*

and encouragement of the Church. Paul directly reproaches the abuse and misuse of the ordinance in the Corinthian Church.

The Lord’s Supper as Worshipping God, experiencing his presence, is an idea that should hold a particular place in any Vineyard practice and ecclesiology. After all, the Vineyard emphasizes the present power of the Holy Spirit in a real way. In communion, at the Lords Table, when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, “God is present to us”, and we engage in a “physical enactment of the presence of God”. Because it is a meal, there are food elements, and these are shared and broken. Derek Morphew expands this out to explain the linkage to the presence of God; “when we break bread we are receiving blessing, grace, and the coming of the kingdom. We are that blessed community who knows the visitation of the Messiah”. We proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes because he is alive with us, present with us. The Lord’s Supper is a profound and powerful act of worship in the presence of God.

The Lord’s Supper is also a powerful proclamation of the Gospel, a prophetic act, and linked to what God is saying. This is both inherent to the text in verse 26, a verse both history-echoing and future-hoping. This ties directly to the core theological impetus of the Vineyard - the kingdom of God. Reginald Fuller, in the Oxford Companion to the Bible, refers to the meals that Jesus celebrated with his disciples as “foretastes of the kingdom of God, which was frequently depicted as a banquet”, echoing the fact that we are not yet experiencing the fullness of the kingdom of God, and yet at the same time are aware of its abundance; a banquet. The multi-faceted nature of the event is, perhaps, a wonderful picture of the multi-faceted nature of Gods Kingdom.

The Lord’s Supper, though, is first and foremost a powerful foreshadowing of the future. It is a time-bound re-enactment of a historical event and a time-bound pre-enactment of what will ultimately happen. Earlier in this paper the marks of the Church were examined from an evangelical perspective - but the issue here focuses on one of the classical Catholic marks of the Church; unity. Fuller emphasizes this with the observation that this event has “ecclesial significance... by partaking of the one loaf the believers become one body”. This, perhaps, is what Paul is focusing on when he states that “anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgement on himself”. This statement comes after the injunction to examine oneself. There is an echo here of Jesus’ words about logs and specks, in the order of examination/judgement.

It is fundamentally important to remember that this is the Lord’s Supper. This distinction is key, one that Paul makes throughout his treatment in 1 Corinthians, and one that Bert Waggonner makes forcefully; “when we come to the Lords Table it is the Lord’s Table and he is the host. Its the Lords Table. It belongs to him. Its something he set up. Designed for his people”. Waggonner’s emphasis is helpful in making this point. Whilst it is a supper, a literal meal, Leon Morris is right in observing that “its purpose is not to satisfy physical hunger”, a simple point but directly related to the situation in Corinth, but linked to our context by the continued action of eating. That provision of food is for other aspects of the Church, linked as it is to Jesus’ radical vision of hospitality and generosity, for example as seen a banquet in Luke 14:13**.

So who can take this meal? Who are the people of God? Who is entering the Kingdom by the King’s table? Among many observations, Morphew’s bold assertion is welcome; “this meal is for the poor in spirit and the lost who need to be healed. Every time we participate in it we should re-experience that Jesus came to seek and to save the lost”. This re-experience is vital in helping us to remember that Jesus did not come for the righteous, but for sinners. This core Gospel concept opens up the Lords’ Supper, the Lord’s own Table, to those who are coming to him as well as those who have come already. This distinction is important. But what do these two groups, these two types of people orbiting the centre, have in common?

David Prior seems to recognize - specifically in the pastoral question of how to approach the Table - that “there are many who hold back from partaking because they do not feel worthy”. This is in my limited experience a sentiment echoed by many who do not yet know Jesus, and indeed a sentiment utilized in the New Testament when encountering Gods extravagant Grace±. It is an accurate assessment of reality, touching on the heart of Grace. We are not worthy. Which is why it is absolutely imperative that we re-orient ourselves around Jesus, focused on him, and acknowledging that it is his table, his body, and his Grace that we - and any who would come - share in. This notion of worthiness is key, we note with Leon Morris that “there is, of course, a sense in which we all partake unworthily, for none can ever be fully worthy”. The worthiness we bring to the table is only “in faith and with a due performance of all that is fitting”.

The proclamation element of the Lord’s Supper is arguably often lost, though at least one UK Vineyard

references and explains the Gospel, as well as its implications for the Lords Supper, prior to celebrating it. Naturally, given the size of our movement, and its breadth, this is not necessarily normative. This is an evangelical concern, naturally, and Leon Morris observes that “the solemn observance of Holy Communion is a vivid proclamation of the Lord’s death”. Lest we become mired in death, Paul is quick to denote that this is “until he comes”, putting anticipation and hope at the heart of proclamation. This tension of memory and hope is firmly rooted in the Vineyard DNA (specifically our open-ness to the Kingdom of God breaking in, held in tension with the reality that it has not yet done so fully), and echoes the way that the Church calendar moves in continual cycle.

The biblical focus on proclamation is arguably an explicitly Vineyard evangelical concern, as well. Morphew concludes his brief study of the issue with the statement that “We must proclaim, or lift up, or focus on, or make much of, the Lord’s death”. This is at the centre of the Gospel, and the point in History at which the Kingdom of God most clearly broke in. When we say we are a Centered-Set movement, with Jesus at the centre, our trajectory (and, we hope, the trajectory of all those we come into contact with) will be towards him. The Vineyard is not mine, or yours - or Wimber’s, or Morphew’s - just as the Lord’s Supper is not owned by any one Christian tradition, no matter how biblical. It - and we - are under the rule of God, and the authority of his word.

It is at this point, the acknowledgement of other traditions, that it is appropriate to briefly consider a possible objection to the direction taken in this paper. Given that there is a departure from some historic norms in the proposal that people moving towards Jesus rather than explicitly members of the Church take the Lord’s Supper, it is clear that this is going to be a bone of contention. How can a Vineyard Church claim to be biblical if so many churches in history have decided something contrary to this? The scriptural reasons outlined throughout go some way to answering this challenge, but a brief example from Church History will serve to demonstrate the orthodoxy of our approach. John Calvin, who stands firmly in the stream of Orthodox Evangelical Christianity, writes concerning the sacraments in the 16th and 17th Chapters of the 4th book of his Institutes. Throughout Calvin’s discussion is the assumption that, for better or for worse, those who do not know (or are not in) Christ will likely take the bread and the wine. Calvin, however, states that “the reception of the sacraments by the wicked is no evidence against their importance”. They are not less important, less real, merely because someone ‘wicked’ has partaken. Reformation-era language aside, the implicit point is clear. Calvin goes into great detail regarding the reality of the importance and power of the Lord’s Supper, stressing that “to say that Christ may be received without faith is as inappropriate as to say that a seed may germinate in fire”. Calvin is clearly distinct from a superstitious view of what the sacrament is, emphasizing the faith element of it. Without definitively claiming Calvin’s position in support of my own, it is reasonable to argue that we are not flying entirely in the face of Church History.

I return to our question, who can take the Lord’s Supper? If we accept a Vineyard Center-Set approach to Church, and maintain our open-ness to the supernatural transforming power of the Holy Spirit, then we must agree with C.K. Barrett that “the decision is God’s”. The proper place for discernment is in the form of words, the gathering of the body, and the open-ness of the way we do Church. We must remember that it is Jesus’ table - not ours. The place for discernment, in the instance before the Lord’s Supper is separated, is with the individual. To ‘discern the body‘ is not to work out who the Church is - for that rests with God - but instead the role of the individual in understanding the previously-discussed importance of the meal in which he or she is taking part. In terms of welcoming people to God’s table, we can observe with Barrett that “Paul does not require that a man be morally faultless before he takes part in the meal; he does require that he should be applying moral scrutiny to his life and behaviour”. And is this not what the Gospel does? In celebrating the Lord’s Death, proclaiming the good news that flows from it, we are in essence applying God’s scrutiny to the life of the Church. It is individuals that come to the table of the Lord - and at that table that we are, in a very real sense, ‘church’.

The Discernment of the Body, the process by which the Lord welcomes us to his table, is a process that we, by faith, engage with in two ways. The first way that the Body is Discerned, and participants made known, is by the proclamation of the Gospel and the meaning of the sacrament, before the liturgy is said and the elements served. The second way is a genuine belief that, because this is very definitely the table of the King, that God’s Holy Character will not allow his Table to be damaged or infringed upon. If we believe in a Sovereign God - and the Kingdom of God demands that we do, as we await his coming rule and reign even as we partner with Jesus in ushering that in - then we can confidently welcome his people, in the Gospel, to his table.

In the Vineyard, we love the Presence of God. In the Vineyard, we love to be people of the book, doers of the word. We are evangelicals, and we are pentecostals, and we love to proclaim the goodness of God and experience the coming of the Kingdom. In order to do these things - especially in trying to do honour to the charge of being doers of the word - we need to demonstrate that our practice and worship echoes what the Bible says. In the area of the Lord’s supper, a central concern of the Church historic, an open yet reverent table can be a powerful statement of a Vineyard way of being Church, without abandoning the legacy of Church history. When we come to the table, we come to the table of the Lord. When we come to the table, we come as sinners in need of Grace - because Jesus came for sinners in need of Grace. When we gather at the table, we are genuinely and biblically experiencing a Kingdom event - looking back and looking forward.

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Words - 3,900

Footnotes...

* “the loveless abuse of the Love-feast (Agape) in Corinth was a blatant denial of the fellowship which this common meal was intended to express, for when each selfishly ate his own supper it became morally imposible to eat the Lord’s supper.” Geoffrey B. Wilson, “1 Corinthians”, (Banner of Truth, London, 1971)

** “but when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you. You will repaid at the resurrection of the just” (this echoes an interesting emphasis on meals in Jesus’ ministry. An example of a popular exploration of this is Tim Chester’s “A Meal with Jesus” [Re:Lit/IVP, 2011])

± For example, Luke 15:19, John 1:27, Luke 7:6

Bibliography

I. Howard Marshall, “How far did the early Christians worship God?” (Churchman 099/3 1985, accessed http://www.churchsociety.org/churchman/documents/Cman_099_3_Marshall.pdf)

Vineyard Churches UK & Ireland, “Statement of Faith”, also Appendix III in Derek Morphew, “Breakthrough”

Bert Waggonner, Podcast 3rd June 2012, http://vineyardpodcast.com/bert-waggoner-june-3rd-2012

Paul F.M.Zahl, “Low-Church and Proud”, in “Evangelical Ecclesiology: Reality or Illusion?”, ed. John G. Stackhouse Jr., (Grand Rapids, Baker Academic, 2003)

Alexander Ventner, “Doing Church: Building from the Bottom Up”, (Cape Town, Vineyard International Publishing, 2000)

Derek Morphew, “Breakthrough”, (Cape Town, Vineyard International Publishing, 2006)

Jason Clark, “Eucharist: Being Re-Membered”, Sutton Podcast, https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/eucharist-being-re-membered/id74320867?i=88438725

ibid, “Eucharist/Communion Service”, Sutton Podcast, https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/eucharist-being-re-membered/id74320867?i=88438725

David Prior, “The Message of 1 Corinthians”, (Nottingham, IVP, 1985)

Todd Hunter, quoted in Appendix 1, of Bill Jackson, “The Quest for the Radical Middle”, (Vineyard International Publishing, Cape Town, 1999)

Reginald H. Fuller, in ed. Coogan and Metzger, “The Oxford Companion to the Bible”, (OUP, Oxford, 1993),

Leon Morris, “1 Corinthians”, (IVP, Leicester, 1985)

John Calvin, “The Institutes of the Christian Religion”, (Knoxville, Westminster John Knox, 2006)

C.K. Barrett, “The First Epistle to the Corinthians”, (London, A&C Black, 1987)

Book Review: Worshipping God

2013-05-07T18:29:00.001+01:00

I'm an R.T.Kendall fan, and I've enjoyed his musings and preaching on a variety of subjects over various years. As I've journeyed for a little while as a self-consciously 'Charismatic' follower of Jesus, he has been a helpful guide through some of the more contentious issues. One of these - which is at the same time an inherent and vital part of Christian vocabulary and practise - is worship, the topic of the book I am reviewing today. Kendall has written 'Worshipping God: Devoting Our Lives to His Glory", and it is one of the more helpful books on worship I have come across.

As the subtitle suggests, this book offers a brilliantly holistic approach to the whole topic of worship. Rather than focusing narrowly on any one aspect of the Christian life, Kendall takes a birds-eye view, panning widely over history, denominations, and different aspects of Church and individual life. This approach is helpful; keeping from the one error or ignoring the individual's role in worship, whilst equally keeping from making the mistake of saying it is all about the individuals response and feelings during a 'time of worship. This book is very much a helpful 'radical middle', balancing Word and Spirit, and many other tensions so often at play in debates over worship.

As might be expected (his reputation and ministry is primarily as a preacher!) Kendall places a high value on preaching in worship. In fact, he writes that "there is a sense in which preaching is the most tangible link between men and the triune God", and that separating preaching from worship is a linguistic nonsense. I'm inclined to agree, even as I think that the best 'worship service' is one in which the Sermon, Singing, Supplication and Sacraments are all beautifully unified and Jesus focused. Kendall challenges our very Western mindset of separating out different bits of a church service, whilst also calling us to remember that worship is indeed the devotion of our lives to His glory.

There is a wonderful thread and theme of the Glory of God running through this excellent book. Kendall is passionate about Jesus, the Glory of God, and the Sovereignty of God. This emphasis makes especial sense in conversations about how the Holy Spirit works in different people, and the way that the Gifts of the Holy Spirit operate. I agreed wholeheartedly with his observation that "all the spiritual gifts described in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 are available today should God be pleased to grant them". I appreciate both the open-ness to all the gifts, and the stress and emphasis on God, rather than ourselves. The chapter on Gifts of the Spirit and worship is possibly one of the most helpful I have read on the subject, more alive than a wary open but cautious position, and far more biblical than some Charismatic excess. Relying on the Sovereignty of God is a safe place from which to see the Kingdom come!

The final superb thread running through this book, explored over several chapters, is that of the two kingdom themes of freedom and warfare. Kendall is helpfully and biblically matter of fact about the often misunderstood nature of Spiritual Warfare, clearly emphasising the nature and reality of the conflict, but not sensationalising it. The discussion of freedom - as a prime benefit of being a Christian - is couched in very useful and applicable terms. We see here fantastic chapters on 'Worship and tradition', and 'Worship and liturgy'. Both of these are very helpful.

All of this book builds towards the aim of all worship, the chief end of man. Kendall closes this book with a discussion of 'Worship in heaven'. This is a helpful, holistic, biblical and reasonable look at the occasionally thorny issue of worship in the Christian Church. I am grateful to have found and read it. I recommend it highly to those involved in leading musical worship, leading churches, small groups, and anyone who takes part in worshipping Jesus. If you wanted to explore some of the ideas I've touched on, then I'd recommend also Simon Ponsonby's superb 'MORE', which in a similar vein I believe balances the biblical tension brilliantly.

Jesus, Lover of my Soul

2013-05-03T13:13:00.001+01:00

"Jesus, lover of my soul, let my to Thy bosom fly,

While the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high.

Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, till the storm of life is past;

Safe into the haven guide; O receive my soul at last"

Thus sings the first verse of the well known hymn by Charles Wesley, "Jesus, Lover of my Soul". I remember quite vividly when, as a roughly 16-year old follower of Jesus, I was complaining to the assembled family in the car on the way back from church. I, with all the theological wisdom and Christlike maturity of a young teenager who has been really following Jesus for not that long at all, was laying into what I saw as the overtly-sexual, lovey-dovey, and generally girly lyrics of this hymn, which we had sung that morning. I was ranting about the inappropriateness of singing about Jesus as 'lover of my soul', and how I felt that it was just an antique version of modern worship songs that sound like modern love songs.

I was really getting going.

Preaching good.

Then my dad, a much wiser, more biblical, calmer man stopped me mid flow. He - and eventually my mother, and younger sister and brother, challenged me about my attitude. That challenge shocked me, humbled me, and in some ways writing this post is a final admittance that I was wrong that sunday morning several years ago.

I can now say, confidently, as a male, married follower of Jesus that he is the lover of my soul.

There have been various articles shared around recently about men/women and church. Not in the usual controversial sense of leadership, but in general attendance. The first I read recently was "Why Men have Stopped Singing in Church", from the author of 'Why Men Don' Go To Church'. I enjoyed that book, and have appreciated a lot of what it says, but am wary of other things. In this new article, however, I'm slightly puzzled at the attitude. I completely get the problem with modern worship, and with the easy temptation to have too much culture and not enough God in our singing at church. I go to a church where I love the modern style, and people sing. Men too. The article was simply mistitled. It isn't about men singing - we should - the issue he addresses is familiarity with the songs we sing. A very good point. But not why men have stopped singing in church.

The second article was one I saw on Twitter today, which irritated me. The Telegraph carried "Why do more women flock to the Church?", and it is an interesting set of observations and ideas. I'd recommend reading it and thinking about it. There is a lot to learn from. But also a few things to sound caution about. And it assumes several things - as does the whole tone of the question 'why don't men go to church?'. The Telegraph article is helpful and raises lots of good points, but I want to jump outside the conversation and ask a different question.

It isn't about men - or women, or children, or anyone else - going to church.

Its about men following Jesus.

This is the fundamental error. We aren't effectively keeping men in church because we aren't effectively leading them to follow Jesus. True, there are some great initiatives like CVM and the London Men's Convention, but by and large we are not articulating in a 'manly' way what it means for a man to say, sing and know the truth, 'Jesus, lover of my soul'.

I mention following Jesus, knowing Jesus, as the prime and presenting issue. If someone is following Jesus we call them a Christian, and before we get into semantics or say that there are people who are Christians and outside church, we need to be careful. It is possible to exist as a Christian and faithfully follow Jesus outside of a Church - but it is not the ideal. Richard Foster, the great evangelical Quaker writer on spiritual disciplines and prayer - very individual concerns - wrote in his excellent book "Longing For God", that "there are no churchless Christians". I think thats true. Following Jesus results, ideally soon but always ultimately, in being part of his Body, his Bride, the Church.

I don't want my male friends to come to Church. First, I yearn for them to come to know Jesus. And follow him. And all my female and other friends too. Then, I hope, they will come to know the value and importance of Church. Which could lead to an exciting potential gathering of followers of Jesus, a Church, where people want to be and where easy stereotypes do not apply but everyone is being transformed into the image of Jesus God wants them to be.

It took me six years, roughly, to admit I was definitely wrong about my teenage rant on 'Jesus, Lover of My Soul'. Because, bluntly, he is. Before I even had a conception of who Jesus is, before I had even been concieved, the raw Love of God knew me, and sent Jesus to die for me. God love my soul so much - and the souls of all those he died for - that he died for them. The Bible talks about this sacrifice - paying the price of sin so that we can come to God - as being the greatest form of Love. The Love than which no greater love can be concieved. Jesus is truly the lover of my soul. The Cross demonstrates Love so powerful that it doesn't brush over the problem of sin - because to ignore flaws is not true love - but instead engages powerfully and finally with the problem, breaking the power of sin.

But it goes on. Because the Christian story, the intervention of God in history, is not just about the Cross. The Death. The Sacrifice. It is also about the Resurrection. The Life. The Eternity. When I put my faith in Christ and his death, he loved my soul. As I walk with Jesus, fumbling and failing, he loves my soul. As I learn to be me, to be Amy's husband, to be a writer and thinker and a dreamer and a worshipper and a reader, he is the lover of my soul. Jesus' Love never stops. Never ends. Never runs out.

You might think this is quite soppy. That I'm emoting on a blog post that started off as a cold rant. I don't think I am. You see Jesus came to save us - but also to transform us. He didn't come just to deal with sin, he came to give us life to the full. And that means change. And beauty. And danger. And all manner of things too wonderful to fit into the first time you hear the Gospel. Jesus transforms people - men, women, anyone - into his likeness. And so our culture-bound conceptions of manhood and womanhood get transformed into his reality. And our culture-bound and sin-dripping understanding of manliness gets smacked down with the simple challenge, that prefix to 'follow me';

"Take up your cross"

The Cross of Jesus, the gateway to Easter and the crux of history, was simultaneously the strongest and most loving thing that has ever been done. If you want to see how to be a true 'man', look at the Cross. If you want to see true Love, look at the Cross. And the the consequences and forgiveness that flow from it through the Resurrection and the Gospel.

So now I sing, "Jesus, Lover of my Soul", because I know its true, and I'm learning just how good the Love of Jesus is.

In closing, the closing verse of that wonderful hymn;

"Plenteous grace with Thee is found, grace to cover all my sin;

Let the healing streams abound; make and keep me pure within.

Thou of life the fountain art, freely let me take of Thee;

Spring Thou up within my heart; rise to all eternity."

Book Review: A Silent Action

2013-05-03T12:18:00.000+01:00

Rowan Williams. Thomas Merton. Two figures who I believe will require lasting theological interaction (though Rowan, of course, isn't dead), and two figures often misunderstood by evangelicals in general and Christians more generally. This slim, readable volume comprises several lectures on Thomas Merton by Rowan Williams, and offer the reader a great introduction to the trappist monk, through the mind of the former Archbishop of Canterbury.

Williams writes in his foreword that he has been reading and engaging with Thomas Merton since he was a teenager. This long-term love and engagement comes out superbly throughout the book, as Williams demonstrates his deep and personal knowledge of Merton through the five lectures, which comprise the meat of this enjoyable little book. It represents, as Williams notes, 'over nearly forty years' of engagement with Thomas Merton, and it is arguably a mark of both Williams as a reader and Merton as a writer that this book has the impact it does.

I am a recent and gradual fan of Rowan Williams. I've considered sympathetically a sermon that other evangelicals panned, and thoroughly enjoyed and favourably reviewed his recent book on Narnia. This book, "A Silent Action", is in a similar vein, and like "The Lions World", is an example of Rowan not being a dense impenetrable academic, but instead a whimsical and widely-read communicator of Christianity. This is what makes this book so enjoyable - Williams ranges relatively far and wide through Merton's life and thought, and comes out with five key ideas and themes that he unpacks with startling clarity and depth of learning.

Of the Five chapters, and I will not go into all of them for reasons of space and spoilers, my favourite was probably "'Not Being Serious': Thomas Merton and Karl Barth". This fifth and final chapter - apart from the afterword - is particularly interesting. I like Karl Barth. I don't entirely agree with everything I've read of him, but he is a powerful and important thinker. Merton and Barth died in the same year, and Williams opens this chapter with a wonderful whimsical idea;

"I found myself speculating... about conversations that might be going on in some heavenly waiting room... the greatest Protestant thinker of the twentieth century, and one of the most widely-publicized and widely-read Catholic writers of the age. What would they have to say to each other?"

Williams reads Merton and Barth well, and this chapter is a fascinating discussion of what it might mean, echoing each other, to be entirely serious and not take each other too seriously. It is a profound and powerful reflection on the task and object of theology; knowing God. Williams closes, in a way that left me wanting more;

"Barth's unseriousness, Merton's unseriousness, and perhaps Mozart's glorious unseriousness all converge here... what is to be taken seriously - and yet unbearably lightly - is only and eternally God"

My hope is that Williams' new job at Cambridge will afford him time to write more and develop some of the themes in this book. One hopes that being freed from the shackles of the Canterbury hat will give him the chance to really be a creative theologian again. Whether or not you agree with him, reading Williams is always worthwhile. Others seem to think so - it is a mark of this man that the orthodox Metropolitan Kallistos Ware of Diokleia offers the afterword here (focusing particularly on the 2nd chapter, engaging Merton and the Monastic ideal with Orthodox thinker Paul Evdokimov). I'd recommend this book for someone looking for an introduction to Thomas Merton, or something slim and readable by Rowan Williams, or who merely wants to explore the less-known spaces of theological thinking. The topics covered here are relevant and profound - my copy has many cornered pages for later usage/reflection - and Williams writes as a kindly tour guide.

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As mentioned above, I wrote "Cheers Rowan" after discussion about the Sermon that Rowan Williams preached at a service celebrating the Queens Diamond Jubilee. I also reviewed his excellent "The Lions World", which sees Rowan exploring Narnia...

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If you've read my blog for the first time, or are a regular reader, then I'd love you to find and 'like' my Facebook page. You can read about that, and the recent name change in this post.

Random Recommendation: Tim Keller

2013-05-01T18:26:00.000+01:00

I'm a big Tim Keller fan. Ever since I read his "The Prodigal God" as a fresher, I've devoured his output both written and audio voraciously. Keller, in my mind, is a brilliant representative of biblical, informed, compassionate evangelicalism. Every book of his that I've read I have enjoyed, appreciated, and been impacted by. Fortunately, he's written a fair few! One of the things I especially like about Kellers books is, oddly, the design. Having a good cover is not that important, but I really like the simplicity and design of the book covers, for the most part. The less well known books by Keller tend to have slightly random covers, but the main ones have a great common theme, and are helpfully all in different colours!

Seriously, though, I can heartily recommend everything by Tim Keller that I've read, and so here follows a cluster of recommendations of some great books.

The first of them I love is "The Prodigal God", a slim and powerful book where Keller uses the story of the Prodigal Son to focus on Jesus. Its a worthwhile read wherever you are in relation to faith and Jesus, regardless if you've been following him for 80 years or hadn't given him a second thought. My review can be found here.

Secondly I love - as does my wife - his superb "The Meaning of Marriage", a book on marriage that Tim collaborated on with his wife Kathy. This excellent book is a brilliant restatement of the Christian vision for marriage, with a multitude of valuable and useful observations. My review can be found here.

Thirdly is a topic dear, or estranged, from many Christian hearts. Work. In "Every Good Endeavour", Keller has provided us with an excellent, comprehensive and readable biblical understanding of work. I'd recommend it to final year students as well as the unemployed, in addition to the more obvious market of those currently working! My review can be found here.

One of Keller's best known books is "The Reason for God", which is a brilliant introduction to the arguments for the existence of God, forceful yet graceful, from a man who is the pastor of one of the largest churches in one of the largest cities in the world. Highly recommended for sceptics, cynics, and those who love them. My review is forthcoming.

At the heart of Christianity is the Cross, and Kellers book "Kings Cross" engages that story beautifully. It is a very helpful look at the way this intriguing heart of the Christian story impacts and engages us today. My review can be found here.

Christians, and the God we worship, are also incredibly interested in issues of Justice and Compassion. Or at least, we should be. Keller has written a powerful book, "Generous Justice", on this subject, bringing it back to an understanding of what it means to be a Christian, and a useful discussion of how God's Kingdom is advanced and the implications of the Gospel. My review can be found here.

Slightly less well known, perhaps, is Tim Keller's "The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness". Nattily subtitled "The path to true Christian Joy", this is a helpful little book about what it means to be a truly free, truly joyful person. My review is forthcoming.

Finally, at least for now, is one of Kellers resources for Churches, "Gospel in Life", which is a very useful and powerful 8-session course on the Gospel and how it applies to the whole of our lives. My review is forthcoming.

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If you've read my blog for the first time, or are a regular reader, then I'd love you to find and 'like' my Facebook page. You can read about that, and the recent name change in this post.

That Old Chestnut

2013-04-30T10:01:00.000+01:00

This is a picture of an old chestnut.

It is an odd thing, the expression. 'That Old Chestnut'.

Why is it old?

Why is it that?

Why, oh why, is it a chestnut?

If could be this, it could be new, or mature, or mellow, or seasoned, or wizened, or even scarred. It could be a coconut. Or a peanut. Or even not a nut at all.

But, it seems, we have that old chestnut.

I begin today's post with this observation because eventually I want to move from nuts to seeds, but in the meantime, I want to talk about doubt. This isn't a nutritional blog, though I hope it feeds you spiritually in some way, so this talk of nuts and seeds is rather strange. But in the Christian conversation, doubt is quite common.

I've not really blogged on doubt before. Not because I don't suffer from doubt, or struggle with faith, or falter at believing some of the stranger things that Jesus taught, or commanded, or assumed, or knew, but because I don't have very much to say about doubt. You see doubt is a deeply individual thing, unique to every follower of Jesus. I'm quite lucky in that my New Testament namesake, Thomas, is best know for his evidence-based doubting. I have spent a long time (And still dabble!) looking for the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus, and whilst I haven't yet had the privilege of seeing the wounds in Jesus' hands, I'm very sure of the Resurrection. I think the Resurrection is a beautiful picture of the Truth of Christianity. The Resurrection is the starting point of our Easter religion, and from it I think we can gradually work our way out to the rest of this theological thing we use when we follow Jesus.

But doubts remain.

For almost every believer.

At every stage of their journey with Jesus.

New.

Old.

Mature.

Mellow.

Wizened.

Scarred.

Battle-Scarred.

Doubt can strike the Christian at any time. I think it is particularly prevalent, at least it is my highly anecdotal experience, among people about to become Christians, and amongst those who have been following Jesus for a while but have been giving too much of themselves. Doubt happens. In fact, its an entirely reasonable part of faith. It just isn't the whole story.

Doubt is just a very old chestnut.

But to be honest, Christians (for the most part), are not nuts.

We are called to be more like seeds.

Jesus once said something rather strange. Twice. Firstly in Matthews Gospel, 17:20, where he is recorded as saying;

"Truly I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you"

Jesus starts with 'truly'. Which means he means it. And he's talking about a very small thing, a very small faith. A faith barely begun, or perhaps (as occasionally I feel) a faith so squeezed of life it feels like a tiny remnant, a tiny reflection of what once was, or what we might wish. Yet Jesus says, truly, that this faith makes the impossible possible. Mountains move. The mountain of doubt versus the seed, the speck, of faith.

This is how small a mustard seed is.

image source here.

Jesus says something very similar in Luke's Gospel, 17:6;

"If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you"

Again, that tiny seed. And the possibility of something. Jesus doesn't assume all is lost. He neither assumes, in response to the Disciples request to 'increase our faith', that we need more than a speck. If. Small. Little words that imply a start. A speck of life. Of faith. Of the opposite of date.

I'm going to swing a bit off-piste. But sometimes, as far as I know, doubt can be quite mountainous - or we can be in a valley of doubt - and doubt can also set in quite firmly, like the roots of a mulberry tree. Both forms, every expression of doubt, can be crippling. But they can be moved. I believe Jesus literally meant that his followers could move mountains. Or trees. And I'm certain that a minuscule speck of faith, a mustard seed, if you will, is enough to engage with doubt. To pray, or to ask God if he is there. To simply call on him.

Karl Barth, one of the most prolific and thought-provoking Protestant theologians of the modern period, had this to say about doubt;

"Everyone who has to contend with unbelief should be advised that he ought not to take his own unbelief too seriously. Only faith is to be taken seriously, and if we have faith as a grain of mustard seed, that suffices for the devil to have lost his game"*

I think thats true. Jesus mentioned this mustard seed of faith in contrast and in the same breath as mountains and mulberry trees. Doubt is not an unscalable mountain - it is a moveable mountain. No doubt, ultimately, can grow in your heart that cannot be uprooted. Faith wins, because the object of faith, biblical faith in the Risen Jesus, is rooted in something much deeper. The story of the God who loved so much He came. The story that engages every doubt and promises an end to every fear. The story of Jesus, woven through the Bible and hinted at throughout our culture. The Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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I hope this post has been of help or interest to you. If you are interested in what I said about the Resurrection, then look at the 'Resurrection' Page for some of the the evidence. Or maybe read my critical review of a book that seeks to disprove the Resurrection. Perhaps you are struggling with not feeling God or sensing his presence. I'd encourage you to consider "Faith not Feelings". Thanks for dropping by!

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If you've read my blog for the first time, or are a regular reader, then I'd love you to find and 'like' my Facebook page. You can read about that, and the recent name change in this post.

*Quoted in Thomas Merton, "Dancing in the Water of Life: Seeking Peace in the Hermitage", The Journals of Thomas Merton, vol. 5 (Harper: San Francisco, 1997), p. 20

Provision, Pondering, and Purpose - Reflections on SVS 2013

2013-04-25T19:22:00.000+01:00

A few days ago I got back from a brilliant conference, and during that conference I briefly blogged some thoughts. Suffice to say, I had a fantastic time, for many and various reasons! This post contains a few reflections, more personal than theological, and may well be boring from some to read. The SVS Twitter feed shared a great blog from Theologian (and Conference Speaker!) Amos Yong, "From 'Empowered Evangelicals' and 'Radical Middlers' to '...?' The Society of Vineyard Scholars and the Renewal of the Vineyard". I'd recommend reading that, especially if your interest in the Vineyard extends to wanting to hear the opinions of a serious Pentecostal academic Theologian! Amos was a wonderful voice at SVS2013, and the late-night theology chat with him was full of fascinating discussion and questions.

Provision

The first thing I want to share is the simple fact of God's amazing provision. Firstly and most fundamentally was the amazing way in which God provided the finances for me to fly to LA, stay in a motel, and eat, all whilst attending the conference! Having been unemployed for a few months, and only really working since February/March of this year, my wife and I didn't have the spare cash to jet half-way around the world! Gods goodness was at work, though, and through his people he provided abundantly, several friends giving very generously! God is a God of provision - on human terms I could not afford to go, and present my paper, but on his terms, in his Kingdom, His will is done and I am immensely grateful for his provision in that.

The plane God provided - to head to less cloudy skies!

Secondly was a new friend, and fellow paper-presenter, who came out of nowhere (well, connected across the pond via email) who organised the hotel and also rented a car. His conversation, fellowship, humour and prayer were wonderful and really gave me much to be thankful to God for. I learnt a lot from him, about both pastoral ministry and American culture, and my 'roommate' was a real highlight of the conference. I mention the car thing because that enabled me to check out Saddleback Church on the saturday afternoon, and also get to the beach! Not essentials, but again an example of Gods generous provision.

Thirdly was the amazing opportunity I had - to present a paper and to meet and learn from some brilliant thinkers, pastors, and teachers. I met a lot of vineyard people I knew previously from books, or footnotes and anecdotes in Bob Jacksons 'The Quest for the Radical Middle'. That was a highlight - and meeting some people I'd really only known through Twitter was fantastic! I was amazed by the grace of people and the kindness of older brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the conference. To a Brit, the fact that a couple I had never met before took me and another conferencee out for lunch, and then gave me a lift to my airport shuttle was crazy! Their kingdom generosity was amazing.

Vineyard Anheim, through the trees.

Pondering

Secondly is the huge amount of pondering I'm going to have to do! The questions asked of my paper where fascinating, and have given me some interesting thoughts to develop and respond to. The main sessions at the conference were also intriguing, with some thought provoking stuff particularly coming in Richard Mouw's Plenary session "Christian Scholarship and Popular Religion: Drawing Wisdom from 'the Sense of the Faithful'". As someone learning to be a whimsical Calvinist storyteller (maybe?!?) I hugely appreciated the wit, intelligence and tone of this evangelical statesman. Amos Yong's Plenary, "The Holy Spirit and the Religions: Christian Discernment in a World of Many Faiths" was also fascinating, and it was good to see a UK voice, Jason Clark, providing an insightful response. I also enjoyed all of the 'In Depth' sessions, particularly Beth Stovells session on Hermeneutics (it inspired me to get a copy of her book, "Biblical Hermeneutics: Five Views", which I hope to read and review soon), and also J.P.Moreland's thought provoking "Keeping Vineyard Distinctives in the Plausibility Structure: a Reflection on Kingdom Ecclesiology.

Theology: LA Style - reading 'Biblical Hermeneutics: Five Views' on the Beach, post-conference!

There were many fantastic papers presented at the conference, and I simply can't go into all of them, and my reflections! I may be biased but the panel I presented on seemed particularly interesting, with the aforementioned fellow Brit Jason Clark bringing a fascinating paper looking broadly at the relationship between evangelical worship and capitalist consumerism. Bryan Hohmeier continued on with a really interesting paper beguilingly titled "Discerning The Orthodox Imaginary: Toward Episcopacy", which was a joy to hear. Other highlights included a paper on the sociology of the Vineyard Movement from a secular anthropologist, a panel on women in Leadership, and two engaging papers on Christian-Muslim relations. Possibly my highlight, if such a thing were allowed, was Brandon Rickabaugh's paper in which he worked towards an Epistemology and Phenomenology of the Vineyard. As a theology graduate, those two long words range towards the unfamiliar terrain of philosophy, but I really enjoyed and appreciated what Brandon had to say. One to watch.

The overall brain-feast of the conference has left me with things galore to read, analyse, and ponder. The fruit of the conference for me will be in the longer term, even as I remember fondly the conversations and fellowship, ministry time together and academic rigour, that rolled into one brilliant week.

Purpose

One of the real highlights of my time in LA, from a slightly selfish perspective, was the opportunity to experience some new places, people, and churches. On the saturday afternoon, after a relaxing snooze on the beautiful beach (pictured above!) my roommate and I headed to Saddleback Church (famously pastored by Rick Warren) for their saturday evening service. This was quite an experience! Saddleback is a BIG church. Really big. So much so that they have a campus:

(Everything in the 'triangle' of roads is Saddleback Church...)

And this is their main worship centre/auditorium:

Its huge - this was a long time before the service filled up. I love the glass sides. And massive screens.

The whole thing is mad big. But what was wonderful was that the Gospel was preached (by Greg Laurie, a visiting speaker), God's name praised, and his commands followed. Saddleback has a huge and varied Sunday programme, and is a great place to be part of the church. But they as a church also respond to the Gospel of Grace by extending the Kingdom of God through hundreds of missionaries and ministries.

Part of the service was a short video from Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback and author of books like 'The Purpose Driven Church' and the wildly popular (And really rather good...) 'Purpose Driven Life'. Rick and his wife Kay recently lost their son Matthew, and so the grieving father had a few words to say to his church. I was struck by his clear grief yet amazing resilience and reliance on God. It also spoke highly of Rick that his friend Greg was speaking that sunday on 'Losing a Loved One', and that this coming week Francis Chan kicks off a series with some wonderful guest speakers, to enable Rick to take some time off to grieve.

Vineyard Anheim - apologies for the sun shining, but I hope it gives you a feel!

I was slightly blown away by Saddleback, and so the Sunday morning service at Anaheim Vineyard was slightly more my style! With more chilled out Vineyard Worship, a wonderful talk from Pastor Mike, and some great chatting afterwards, I loved Anaheim Vineyard, and really appreciated the welcome and atmosphere of that church. My visits to these two big American churches were both brilliant, in slightly different ways, and have set my mental cogs rolling down a few ideas!

Mostly, though, this week (almost) in LA taught me a lot about God's provision, the joy of pondering about him, and the value of purpose and hope. The churches I visited, the people I met, had clear purpose and vision of God. Where the questions were tough there was a humility but also a willingness to engage. I came away from LA - despite the jetlag - refuelled and re-envisioned, grateful for a Gracious Father, a Stunning Saviour, and a Living and Active Holy Spirit.

Normal blogging service will be resumed soon, but I wanted to get these few thoughts off of my chest.

Thanks for reading!

Book Review: Inside Grief

2013-04-22T00:58:00.000+01:00

This book is rather different from many I have reviewed on this blog, and for various reasons. For one thing, it is a collection of essays, which is not a particularly common format, and for another it is on the topic of grief, which is a subject that the Christian tradition speaks into mightily, even as many modern Christians don't engage with. "Inside Grief", edited by Stephen Oliver, is a collection of essays and reflections on the topic of Grief, especially in the context of bereavement and pastoral care.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams offers up the foreword, in which he makes a valuable observation of what this book is, and is not; "This is not meant to be a brisk and useful book on coping; it is a record, in various ways, of the experience of inhabiting grief. This doesn't mean that it is a plain record of unrelieved pain, though there is plenty of that in these pages: 'inhabiting grief is a matter of learning a landscape, recognising an environment in which you are going to live for a long time". Whilst I would offer a note of caution about the close of that observation, the basic point is important, and Oliver and the other authors have done us a service in reminding us of the enormity of grief.

The contributors to this slim volume are from a range of backgrounds. There is a helpful smattering of clergymen, including a Rabbi, as well as a few doctors, a professor, and a nurse. The range of perspectives makes this a very helpful book, as does that variety of the stories and responses to and around the issue of Grief. This is reflected in the wide range of further reading that come at the end of each chapter.

I found particularly interesting - even as it made me grateful for my own Christian faith - Rabbi Howard Cooper's chapter "Reflections on Jewish approaches to death, grief and mourning", not least because he opens with a Joke, noting that "from a Jewish perspective there is not situation we face as human beings that cannot lend itself to humour". Cooper notes that it "is very hard to generalize about 'Jewish' approaches", due to the fragmented nature of (in this case) UK Judaism. I also enjoyed, if that is the right word, a fascinating account from Richard Smith, "Inside the grief of soldiers and their families: an army chaplain's experience". This proved a fascinating read, not least the observation that "my experience within the Army suggests that what we do in the form of ritual is as important, if not more important, than the words we use". An interesting reflection.

All of the chapters/essays in this book bring an interesting perspective, even as I found myself occasionally disagreeing with some of what the contributors said. This is a helpful book on an often-overlooked subject, which throws open some interesting windows on a topic that the world loves to ignore, and the Christian tradition is uniquely placed to engage with.

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Book Review: The Prodigal God

2013-04-20T03:44:00.000+01:00

I'm a Tim Keller fan. So it was with some interest that I got round to reading this, almost the slimmest of his various books. "The Prodigal God", with the bold subtitle "Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith", is a brilliant usage of the story of the Prodigal Son to give a new window on the beautiful person of Jesus Christ.

A hint as to the picture of God that this book brings into beautiful perspective is before Keller has even recounted the parable he uses as a springboard;

"prod-i-gal / prodigal - adjective

1. recklessly extravagant

2. having spent everything"

This opening 'definition' underlines the thrust of Kellers writing here: God loves you enough to be recklessly extravagant, spending everything on you. This is of course an allusion to salvation, and over a few pages Keller explores what this means, turning a lot of preconceptions about both the parable and faith on their heads. This is not a book of easy answers - but it is a book that grabs on to truth and presents it brilliantly.

Keller, amongst his retelling of a classic parable, also offers three 'redefinitions' of important concepts. Firstly, "Redefining Sin", which forms the third chapter of this book. Here Keller shows the error of the two sons, and concludes that they are "Both Wrong; Both Loved". In the fourth chapter Keller engages with "Redefining Lostness", which is a beautiful exploration and explanation of the dynamics of Anger/Superiority and Slavishness/Emptiness. His penultimate chapter is particularly beautiful; "Redefining Hope". Echoing, often, C.S. Lewis, Keller writes wonderfully of the hope we have in Christ, with the concluding section here called simply "The Feast at the End of History".

The final chapter of this slim and excellent book is titled "The Feast of the Father", and is an unpacking of the joyful and biblical doctrine of salvation that Keller would love us to engage with, and accept. Keller explains the radical reality of Christian salvation, and closes with the beautiful story of Babette's Feast, which if you haven't read it (you should) can be found here.

This is a great introduction to the kind of Christianity that brings life, rather than a dead religion which restricts and oppresses. I think this book is as useful for the older Christian as it is the seeker, and it is particularly helpful due to the story-nature of Keller's writing here. I really cannot recommend 'The Prodigal God' enough.

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Brief LA Update - With Pictures!

2013-04-19T16:16:00.000+01:00

Hey Readers,

sorry for the lack of Posts this week - I've been at a conference in LA which has been brain-stretching, challenging, engaging, and absolutely brilliant fun. I've enjoyed the fellowship of like-minded brothers and sisters, and its been a privilege to hang out with some great thinkers, in the awesome atmosphere of Vineyard Anaheim. Having never been to LA before, and only really experiencing it through the series '24', so its been awesome looking out of windows - plane, van and car - to see what I can see.

I'm blessed to have an awesome room-mate, who pastors a church in Michigan, and also to have some letters from my wife which have been so lovely to have and read. The conference attendees are all great at having conversations, so I'm loving talking theology and Vineyard till the cows come home. Yesterday evening was a wine and cheese gathering at a local church home up in the hills - which was great. Not least because I finally discovered an American Beer that is genuinely palatable!

Downtown LA from the plane. Its a BIG city!

Thus far I've enjoyed a long-form paper from Beth Stovell on Hermeneutics - which was a great overview of Charismatic/Evangelical hermeneutics and challenge to press on for a Vineyard-specific hermeneutical approach. A couple of attendees have been caught out by weather and events, so the programme got a bit skewed. I went along to a really interesting panel on 'Spirituality and Discernment in the Vineyard: Philosophical and Historical Models', where four very different papers brought some great ideas to the table. The afternoon, for me, saw a long-form paper from Christian Philosopher J.P.Moreland, which was an interesting example of engagement between modern and postmodern scholars, and the challenge to be people of courage.

The evening plenary session was a real highlight, as Richard Mouw came to talk to us about 'Christian Scholarship and Popular Religion: Drawing Wisdom from "The Sense of the Faithful"'. This talk was brilliant, and came after the joy of worshipping Jesus together. Mouw was whimsical, thought-provoking, and gave much to reflect on. His awareness of the broad spectrum of Evangelicalism and Mission resulted in some brilliant challenges, and some great doorways to future projects and thinking! Certainly a couple of blog posts here will owe a dept to that session.

This morning holds plenary sessions from Amos Yong and Cherith Fee-Nordling, and papers on all sorts, including my room-mates. I'm also looking forward to Ken Wilson's long-form paper. I have a lot of time for Ken, having read and loved "Empowered Evangelicals" (co-authored with Rich Nathan) and some of his other stuff, and so his "Third Way Approach to a Challenging Pastoral Issue" is something that I'm sure will be inspiring, challenging, and thought provoking. Tomorrow I've got the chance to present my paper, so prayers appreciated and lets see what happens!

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Beyond Imitation

2013-04-15T15:03:00.000+01:00

image from here.

"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then I shall know even as also I am known"

In this verse, 1 Corinthians 13:12, Paul is hinting at a magnificent truth of the Gospel. Things are not perfect. But a time is coming when perfection will be reality. We glimpse that reality even now, even as we are distracted by poor imitations and cracks. The Gospel, however, takes us beyond Imitation...

There has been a resurgence in recent years - at least in my limited awareness - of Evangelical Christians rediscovering the riches of Church history, not least the writings of saints, mystics, and spiritual thinkers. I can honestly say that I think this is a brilliant thing, for the most part. One of the best known of these, "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis, is an originally Latin Christian dveotional book, with a variety of spiritual instruction, excercise, and thinking. Rightly a classic, there is much to learn from and commend in what it instructs, but there are also areas to have caution. One of the most powerful challenges that we in the modern church need to heed is the devotion to sacraments - not because they are especially important in themselves (though of course Baptism and The Lords Supper have importance!) - but because of the reality that they proclaim, celebrate, and commemorate. This view of the Sacraments is something I have been learning and thinking about, and formed the subject of an academic paper I wrote recently.

But at the core of a Kempis' work there is a slight flaw, a misdirection of but a few degrees that can have profound consequences.

The Christian life is not about imitating Christ.

It's not about looking like him.

It's not about trying to live like him.

The Christian life is about being united with Christ. About becoming more and more like him, but in the sense of being the version of yourself that Jesus intends, being an expression of Gods love in this world, not as an imitation of something or someone, but as the unique unity of yourself and Christ that Christ is calling us all to be. Michael Horton, in his excellent "The Gospel Commission", writes this;

"The Scriptures direct us to something far greater, deeper, and more transformative than the imitation of Christ. They speak of our actually being united to Christ: crucified, buried, and raised with him, living our our lives in the world as those who are seated with Christ"

When we understand what it really means to follow Jesus, what it means to live as a slave to Grace, to be united with Christ, we are then free from making the mistakes of either laziness or legalism. The lazy Christian thinks that because God is sovereign and has saved him, that the individual Christian does nothing in response. The legalist over-emphasises the response element of the individual, seeking to put rules and strategies in the place where the Holy Spirit should be.

Imitating Christ is a start, and may well be helpful for some in their journey with Christ, but it is not enough. Imitation is a poor substitute for reality. And the reality of the Gospel, the reality of Grace, is that Christians are different. When Paul is writing about the Church, he doesn't separate the body of Christ into different levels of holiness. The New Testament makes it clear that everyone who is baptized into Christ, who follows him and is saved by him, has entered into a new reality. This unity with Christ means that from the outset you are justified and renewed inwardly. This is an announcement. The Gospel is still Good News.

Christ calls us, embraces us, saves us. In that moment of repentance something new begins. A new birth. A new beginning. A new creation. Not an imitation of Jesus, but a unity with Jesus. A new child of God, a co-heir with Christ, is born. A brother or sister of Christ is added to God's family. What flows from that, by the Grace and Power of the Holy Spirit, is a life that will be gradually conformed to the image of Christ being formed in the individual. The Christian life is better than legalism, better than laziness. The Christian life is about being united with Christ, and the amazing benefits and reality that this truth implies.

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Book Review: A Call to Spiritual Reformation

2013-04-15T08:51:00.000+01:00

In reading and researching fairly widely around the topic of prayer, I've consumed and discarded a wide range of books on the topic. There are, it seems, a myriad of approaches to this all-important issue, and it genuinely looks like someone has tried each one. That said, one of my favourite thus far is Don Carson's "A Call to Spiritual Reformation". This well known and fairly comprehensive look at 'Priorities from Paul and his prayers', with the intent of calling the reader to a renewed and reformed personal prayer life, that God may be glorified.

This is a wonderful book. It is a very 'Don Carson' book, and relatively comprehensive, but well worth the effort to work through. It is a comprehensive, deeply prayerful, and expansive look at the many prayers of Paul that we have preserved in the New Testament, and it is a brilliant combination of a very specific commentary, and also a useful devotional.

The various chapter-length engagements with particular prayers (often giving helpful frameworks or structure for prayer generally) are interspersed with Carson's opinion and observations on Prayer more generally. In contrast to some of the various and many books on Prayer I've been digesting recently, Carson gets properly stuck in. He identifies this issue as the urgent need of the Church, and addresses with chapters important issues such as "Praying for Others", "Excuses for Not Praying", and each of the chosen passages containing a New Testament prayer gets a serious issue dealt with. I personally loved his "A Passion for People" exegesis of 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13, and the engagement with "Overcoming the Hurdles" that characterised his treatment of Philippians 1:9-11.

As I pointed out in my review of another of his books, Carson is great at laying out the glorious truths of the Bible in simple and understandable terms, even when said truths are complex. This is in evidence here. Many popular books on prayer simply fail to engage with the tension between God's Soveriengty and his Personal nature in relation to prayer - but Carson hits it head on, in the superb chapter "A Sovereign and Personal God", swiftly followed by "Praying to the Sovereign God", his careful and comforting exposition of Ephesians 1:15-23. These themes are tricky but essential, and Carson unpacks them with characteristic grace. His aforementioned book, "The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God", goes deeper into these issues.

I enjoyed this book. It is a fairly meaty tome, and it can be quite deep and challenging at times, but it is definitely worth it. Of the books on prayer I've read - many reviews forthcoming - this has been one of the most powerful, especially in the sense of combining reflection on Scripture, theological engagement, and spiritual application. One of Carsons aims with this book is to foster 'Spiritual Reformation' in its readers - I believe it certainly contributed to that in me! I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for a prayer/bible aid to their devotional time, or to anyone looking for a biblical understanding of Prayer. A great book.

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For another book on New Testament Prayer, there is the slim "New Testament Prayer for Everyone" by the prolific Tom Wright, whilst I should also plug my review of the above-mentioned "The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God", by Don Carson.

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Guest Post: Singleness and Celibacy

2013-04-10T09:23:00.000+01:00

I'm no Roman Catholic, but I enjoying occasionally listening and learning from the world's largest Church, and today's guest post is an example of that. The author is a friend from university, who is currently in a Catholic seminary, training to be a Roman Catholic Priest. This Guest post, following on from a previous one, and some readings on the topic, is the latest in an ongoing quest to think carefully through the issues of Singleness and Celibacy in the Christian life. I love this post, in which the Author demonstrates amazing faith in the reality of the Christian story. I hope you enjoy it too, and we would love you comments...

There’s a certain reaction I’ve come to expect over the last year or so when meeting new people. The usual question, “so, what do you do for a living?” comes up to which I answer I’m training to be a Catholic priest. Of all the possible replies a person might give to that statement one is more common than any other –

“so you’re never going to get married? As in no sex and single for the rest of your life!?”

In short yes, you’ve got it in a nutshell, but what I want to explore is why this is a Christian calling with deep biblical roots (sticking with the celibate bit here, ignore the priest part for this blog post). Also I’d like to look at why it’s such a powerful witness in today’s culture and more shocking to people than the fact that I believe in the incarnation, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ true God and true man.

Celibacy and singleness for the sake of the Kingdom is radical, counter cultural and profoundly challenging primarily because it says loudly and clearly that I believe there is more to life than our contemporary society does, for if the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’ 1 Cor 15:32 I’m going to unpack this though the lens of Abrahams call and the sacrifice of Isaac.

God’s promise of immortality to Abraham was simple - I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. Gen 12:2 Abraham would live on through his offspring. This is worked out over 10 chapters of human failure and lack of trust in God but eventually we arrive at the crunch point. God has given Abraham the son he promised, through whom Abraham believes Gods original promise will be fulfilled, and now God ask for something truly radical of Abraham – risk it all on God’s word. Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering. Gen 22:2 It’s this risk that the celibate life has at its heart, give everything trusting that God will come good on his promise of immortality.

It’s surprising how much this Old Testament model of immortality, the remembering of the name by the descendants (which is why the Old Testament is so keen on genealogies and why Jewish prayer recalls the names of past family members) is still the model of immortality for today’s culture. How many times have we all heard people say, “I believe I’ll live on through my children.” Now I’m not saying that every Christian who has children is denying that God changed the game in the resurrection; but rather that God calls some from among his people to witness to the resurrection in a radical way by not marrying and that this is often, in the scriptures at least, linked to the committal of some special work by God to that person.

We find the idea of celibacy, or at least temporary continence, is associated with special service to God. When the nation of Israel in Exodus comes to meet God at Sinai Moses commands them: Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman. Exodus 19:15 Likewise the prerequisite for the taking of the bread of the presence from the temple by King David was the continence of his men 1 Sam 21:5, which implies the temporary continence of the Levites whilst serving in the temple just as the whole nation was temporarily continent when meeting God at Sinai; much evidence for this is found in the Qumran community’s life and writings. Jeremiah heard the voice of the Lord command, you shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. Jer 16:2 and Jewish tradition holds that both Elijah and Elisha were celibate all their lives.

This is a tradition that Jesus grew up in and one he chose to associate himself with closely in his own life long celibacy. He taught that celibacy was a gift and that there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it. Matt 19:12 Even married people he encountered would leave everything to follow him and that no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life. Luke 18:29-30 Similarly the early Church accepted celibacy as a Christian calling, one which Paul famously lived out. In fact Paul hoped that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. 1 Cor 7:7-8 and taught that even marred couples could abstain for a time through mutual agreement to devote themselves to prayer. 1 Cor 7:5 Paul, and other figures in the early Church, where called to do exactly what Jesus talked about when he said become a eunuch for the sake of the Kingdom.

Sadly Christianity today seems to have all but forgotten about this aspect of Christian discipleship. Even devout Christians look at single people who choose to be single as odd, if not down right crazy, rather than supporting them in there vocation. When was the last time you heard a sermon on the celibate life? Yet our western society has become so sexualised it is one of the greatest witnesses Christianity today could give to the Gospel – there can be a world in which it doesn’t have to be the norm for 100% of 14 year old boys to have watched pornography as was reported in the news last week.

So celibacy is a challenge to our culture not just because our culture doesn’t seem able to recognize someone as fully human unless their having sex but more deeply because it strikes at the heart of the reason for that. I believe that the obsession of contemporary culture with sex isn’t purely hedonistic, it’s representative of a deep seated desire to in some way cheat death and it goes hand in hand with the sanitization of illness and dying, the rising number of people not dying at home and the coffins behind curtains at funerals. Our culture cannot cope with finality and therefore it cannot understand something as final as celibacy.

To say I will never be married and I will never have children is to say that I believe so profoundly and radically in Christ’s resurrection, and therefore my sharing in that, that I am willing to take the risk the secular world is so terrified of. I am willing to leave no legacy, to have no insurance policy, to be forgotten, because I will risk it all on the cross of Christ to signpost his kingdom in a special way.

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If you've enjoyed this Guest post, then you might like to hear a different approach to the subject, a review of Wesley Hill's "Washed and Waiting", about the lifestyle choice of a Christian who is celibate and Gay. Otherwise I refer you to my previous post, "Readings in Singleness and Celibacy", and a previous Guest Post, "The Single Life".

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Dear Mr Osborne...

2013-04-05T09:34:00.000+01:00

The following is a letter I would have liked to have written, and had published alongside this morning's news which prompted it. Enjoy

Image my own, article can be read at the Telegraph here.

Dear Mr Osborne,

like you and many others, I was horrified at the reports of the death of six children in a fire at the hands of Mick Philpott. As someone who calls Nottingham home, the fact that this took place in Derby made it even more horrific, as there is something selfish in all of us regarding proximity. But I digress. I write to question the basic idea behind your question as to 'why we are subsidising lifestyles like these', and to ask a few questions.

Firstly, the idea of a benefits 'lifestyle'. There are many, though it is not clear how many, who use and abuse the benefits system for personal gain, and the idea that Mr. Philpott had an income of over £100,000 does somewhat boggle the mind. That said, this is not the norm. As I'm sure your own convoluted and complicated records show, My wife and I spent a period of six months on Job Seekers Allowance. We certainly didn't have a 'lifestyle' that would have made the front page. It was due largely to the generosity of a few friends, unsolicited except in prayer, that we were able to spend Christmas with family, and get some small presents. JSA is not a payment which affords a lifestyle in which many people are comfortable.

Secondly, the basic necessity of a welfare state. As a theology graduate, I spent a reasonable amount of time with newspapers and politics students. But I don't claim to to have all the answers, economically, politically, or theologically. One thing I do know, however, is that there is something inherently good at the heart of our welfare system. The idea that the state should provide, because people are worth something. This should be protected, regardless of what form it takes and what the economic climate is. This understanding of humanity is tied into my Christian understanding of the world - we call it the 'imago dei'. From that same perspective I can rationalise the actions of Mr Philpott, and others, because as well as 'imago dei', Christianity teaches that human beings are sinful, broken, imperfect.

My third point flows from my final observation. You ask the very valid question, 'why are we subsidising lifestyles like these?'. I believe the same question was asked of many of your colleagues and opponents a few years ago. The amounts of money spent on non-essentials as revealed in the expenses scandal betrayed a 'lifestyle' that most people felt was grossly excessive and out of touch. Certainly the state should not be funding that. The basic answer to the MP's expense scandal was regulation and a call to a culture of honesty. Is not the same here, in this benefits conundrum? I don't claim to have all the answers, but I believe this might be a step in the right direction.

I hope I have been clear and concise, and not too preachy. I agree wholeheartedly with you that Mr Philpott has committed a great crime, but a man from the Middle East once said 'let him who is without sin cast the first stone'. The great story of Easter, which we have just seen celebrated in England and globally, is that even the thief can be forgiven. Whether that thief is a benefits scrounger or an expense-fiddling MP, the Easter narrative offers hope and forgiveness. I hope the national conversation on issues such as these could include more of those, and together this country can regain its 'Greatness'.

yours,

Thomas Creedy

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Book Review: Culture Making

2013-04-04T15:31:00.000+01:00

In line with my increasing interest in Apologetics and the relationship of Christianity/The Church to culture, etc, I've been reading more intentionally into the subject. One of the books that kept coming up is this one, "Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling" by Andy Crouch. Commended (and if you only read this end of this review, rightly so!) on the front by Tim Keller, this is a serious book that really engages with the questions it seeks to answer, and is, in my opinion, successful in putting forth a Christian vision and strategy for culture.

The entirety of Crouch's book is set firmly within the biblical conception of Christianity as a bigger, and indeed the, story. It is both a good introduction and a comprehensive suggestion beyond, the issues of Culture and Christianity. We begin in Part 1: Culture, rightly getting the lay of the land and considering how Culture is created, what it is, and what that might mean for us as individuals. Despite a rather bizarre (though, if you read the book, it does make sense) obsession initially with omelettes, Crouch goes on to very helpfully summarise and explain a lot of the issues and ideas around 'Culture', setting us up for his actual argument and more technical engagement.

Having seen the lay of the land - and Part 1 closes with helpful analysis of how evangelicals have engaged with culture - Crouch draws us onwards into Part 2: Gospel, which is a wonderful setting of the issues of Culture into the eternal context of the Gospel narrative. He centres, both ultimately and in terms of chapter location - on Jesus. Crouch makes a powerful, counter-cultural-in-the-most-basic-sense observation about Jesus, noting that "“The strangest and most wonderful paradox of the biblical story is that its most consequential moment is not an action but a passion - not a doing but a suffering”. Amen. From Jesus Crouch moves on, through "From Pentecost" to "... To Revelation", closing his examination of the Gospel with the wonderfully title "The Glorious Impossible".

The closing chapters of this fine book fall into Part 3: Calling. Crouch begins with a great sucker-punch to the idealistic individualism of many, "Why We Can't Change the World", wryly and incisively observing that “Changing the world sounds grand, until you consider how poorly we do even at changing our own little lives". It is from this place that, as Crouch observes, we can begin to really think through how the world, and culture, might actually change. These, Crouch writes, are "The Traces of God", and his final three chapters are wonderfully and simply titled "Power", "Community" and "Grace". These traces of God, as Crouch puts it, are echoes of the peculiar Christian claim that, "as unlikely or even scandalous as it often seems, is that God has been involved in culture making from the very beginning". This is not a book about us - but ultimately a book about God. Hence the postscript, "Artist in His Studio", which closes this superb book with a powerful yet practical challenge; "When we are fully able to bear the beauty of God resting upon us, when our work and worship are one, we will live in the eternal now of creators made in the Creator's image. And, once more, it will be very good". I love the imagery in those closing words.

Crouch subtitled this book "Recovering our creative calling", and I hope that for its evangelical readers this book will challenge and catalyse just that. This is an immensely rich and readable book, well worth the time to engage fully with its well-written 250+ pages. I'd recommend it highly to creative and artistic Christians, students involved in Arts degrees, those studying Theology, and anyone involved in Church leadership where cultural engagement is key. This is helpful, encouraging, and future-focused book.

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Book Review: We Don't Do God

2013-04-01T12:13:00.001+01:00

The weekend I wrote this review, the primary author, Lord Carey, had the front page of the Daily Mail, with his challenge to David Cameron, "The PM's done more than any leader to make Christians feel they're persecuted". It was enough to oust Vicky Beeching's blog out of retirement, and indeed everywhere I saw comment there was lively debate. So my review of his book, co-authored with his Journalist son Andrew, is perhaps timely! Carey's subtitle is "The marginalization of public faith", and his comments in the Mail, for better or for worse, should, be taken in light of the far fuller and more reasonable (perhaps) treatment of the issue that we see here.

"We Don't Do God" is a small and reasonably slim volume, coming in at under 180 pages. Carey asks a lot of good questions, and provides some superb answers. The author writes from a perspective of years in the leadership structure of the Church of England, frontline ministry experience, and political engagement. Lord Carey, regardless of your views on his views, is pretty well placed to comment on Christianity and culture. We begin in Chapter One, "Living in Critical Times", where there is a strong challenge; "Can anyone still pretend that a secular State delivers neutrality? In fact, from the point at which it casts down state religion it makes a powerful statement of repudiation of the religious voice - all religious voices - in the public square". Written in 2012, this statement makes for chilling reading, in terms of foresight, in the way that religion is often treated in culture today.

But this is not a negative, anti-state book. In Chapter 2, the question is rightly asked "What has Christianity Done For Us?", before moving into a look at "The Changing State of Britain". It is here that Carey's keenness of mind shines through. Elsewhere he warns about a form of Christian faith that eschews intelligence and reason - “There are aspects of evangelicalism, particularly American evangelicalism, that downplay intelligent discourse and civilised debate” - but this is not the form that Carey is taking, or teaching. Carey wisely and in timely manner notes that "In other words, there was never, ever a “golden age” in the past to which we can look back as a solution to the travails and concerns of the present. The problems of the past were often different but were equally real. Christians, like others, always need reminding that thought the past may seem an appealing place, we can only deal with hand we are given". True. Christians should not be living in or for the past, but instead for the future ushered in with Christs resurrection.

The bulk of the book (Chapters 4 through 7 by my count), unsurprisingly but by necessity, is engagement with the issue of religious intolerance and secular/sacred conflict. Carey helpfully reminds us that whilst there have been some removals of Christian furniture from our national living room, it is worth noting that “Another way in which there has been a gradual marginalising of faith in the public realm is much less noticeable because it is more about omission than it is about commission". You know where you are when things are deliberately removed. But mere omission makes it harder to pinpoint the exact crux of the issue. This section of the book makes for a rather frustrating and depressing read, yet it reflects the reality of a culture where the Church, for a myriad of reasons, has lost its voice and influence, for the most part.

The closing chapters, though, reflect ideas that resonate and slowly emerge throughout the book. Written in an unabashedly confrontational and confident style, Chapter Eight "Establishment: A Bulwark Against Intolerance", makes an interesting case for the continued establishment of the Church of England, and demonstrates the authors awareness of the variety of churches and other religions that get involved in the UK. It is in the end, Chapter 9 "Challenging the Culture", that Carey really gets his point across most helpfully. Carey launches into this final proclamation with a timely and helpful reference to Leslie Newbigin. Carey takes this idea of confident Christianity through the test cases of Secularism and Human Rights (including interesting observations on Equality), before looking at the future of Christianity in a Secular Europe. With a very helpful survey of different Christian reactions to culture, Carey closes with a wonderful, forward looking challenge to the Church;

"Just as at the start of Christianity, the Church of the third Millennium has a wonderful opportunity to proclaim afresh the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ to our world. If we can regain our sense of being God’s instrument for transformation we may well set the world ablaze once more. On that decision hinges the future of the Church in England"

This is an important book. It is especially important as Lord Carey now goes into the public arena to say increasingly unpopular (and never perfect!) things. It is a helpful book to demonstrate the careful thought behind an expression of Christianity often labelled unthinking. It is a warning bell for Christian leaders complacent in our so-called 'Christian' country. I didn't find myself agreeing entirely with every issue and conclusion Carey came to, but I don't hesitate to recommend this book.

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Book Review: The God of Intimacy and Action

2013-03-31T20:18:00.000+01:00

This book is the second I have reviewed by this pair of authors. Tony Campolo and Mary Albert Darling are both provocative and innovative thinkers, with whom I agree in part and disagree occasionally! I enjoyed, for what it was, their previous effort, and todays book is similar in my response. In "The God of Intimacy and Action: Reconnecting ancient spiritual practices, evangelism and justice", Campolo and Darling seem to join up all the different things that different Christians find trendy, and to give us a holistic, helpful and holy vision of the Christian life. My initial cynicism aside, this is an interesting book.

Having (helpfully) very carefully explained what Christian Mysticism is and is not, Campolo opens the book with three very simple but helpful chapters. First we examine "What Mystical Christianity Is All About", which for Campolo seems very largely to figure as an overdue response to his observation that "As time went by, and the church became more institutionalised an inevitable consequence was to tone down the radical justice imperatives prescribed hundreds of times throughout the Bible". There is a lot of very helpful stuff in his chapter on "Christian Mysticism and Personal Evangelism", including a wonderful story about Charles Spurgeon on page 33. Tony's section closes with "Christian Mysticism and Working for Justice", where we are boldly challenged and reminded that "The wrong use of religion must be challenged. True Christianity works to liberate oppressed people and heal oppressed creation, not to legitimate their opposition". Indeed. I personally would have liked to see a stronger link between oppression and sin, etc, but that was clearly not the chosen direction for this book.

Mary Darling contributes Part Two: Fuelling Intimacy: The Mystical Path to this book. This is a very helpful, surprisingly bible-focused and refreshingly straightforward introduction to Christian Mysticism, not in the esoteric 'wacky' sense but the orthodox, world-changing kind. The three highlights for me in this part were Chapter 6, helpfully titled "Moving from Self-Awareness to God-Awareness: The Prayer of Examen", where the traditional usage of the prayer of Examen is helpfully explained and applied. Echoing the biblical themes here, I also enjoyed "Becoming God's Friend: Lectio Divina", again a helpful application of a wonderful ancient Christian practice. All this, and the rest of the chapter, contributes to the challenge that makes up Darling's final chapter, "Committing to a Holistic Gospel".

The final part of the book is relatively brief, and a summary would ruin it! It is titled "Taking Intimacy with God into the World", and makes a strong case for putting into practice what Campolo and Darling have been writing. I enjoyed this book, and have taken away a few things to integrate into my own walk with Jesus. There were a few flaws, and the odd implication of some social and theological stances that in my opinion depart from orthodoxy, but for the most part this is a helpful book. For someone looking into the practical outworking of a Christian spiritual life, this would be a very helpful read.

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You may like to read my review of Campolo and Darling's other book that I recently reviewed, "Connecting Like Jesus". Exploring similar themes to some of those in this book is Trystan Owain Hughes' "The Compassion Quest", and Tim Kellers superb "Generous Justice".

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Tentative thoughts on Mission

2013-03-26T19:16:00.002Z

God willing, I will be starting a course of study next year that will lead to a degree in 'Mission and Ministry'. Naturally, because I'm a reader, I've been reading in preparation for that. Over the last few days I've come across a couple of things which have resonated with me, and relate to Mission, in a way that is helpful.

The first of these, perhaps appropriately, is a simple prayer. It comes from a rather obscure collection of prayers, in a slim volume entitled "Prayer Throughout All Ages". The collection brings together a wide range of prayers, and focuses on the Church Calendar. The prayer I found myself praying and resonating with is attributed to Bishop Westcott;

“O Almighty and most merciful Father, Who didst send Thy beloved Son to die for the sins of the whole world, look down, we beseech Thee, upon all nations who have not known His Name, and in Thine own good time lead them to His Cross. Strengthen with the comfort of Thy Spirit all who bear abroad the message of the gospel. Raise up among us a lively sympathy with their labours. Take away from those who hear all hardness of heart, and pride, and impenitence; and so move them, blessed Lord, with Thine infinite love, that the day may speedily come when all the ends of the world shall be turned into Thee, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd; we ask all for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Bishop Westcott, A.D. 1825)”

“Prayer Throughout All Ages”, (Churchman, Worthing, 1988), p. 101

I love this. I think its beautiful. It starts with the Gospel, and flows into the expression of Gospel love which is at the heart of the true Christian mission. And it ends as all things should, "for the sake of Jesus Christ". I don't know who Bishop Westcott was, but I love this prayer.

I've also been reading - and will review shortly - a book by a former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, authored with his son Andrew. "We Don't Do God" is an interesting look at the way Christianity is approached culturally in the UK. Towards the end the Carey's nail the role of the Church, having examined the issues that can often unfortunately lead to Christians in courts;

"The role of the Church and the individual Christian in society after all is to be a witness to the love of Christ, not an advocate for a shrill and selfish culture of victimhood"

"We Don't Do God", (Monarch, Oxford, 2012), p. 123

Amen! I love that summary - concise and clear yet open to contextual interpretation and application. The mission of the Church is the love of Christ, no more, no less. It is nothing else.

I'm excited to think and read more about Mission over the coming months. I hope you've enjoyed these two brief quotes/thoughts, and that the above prayer is one that can fuel your engagement with God's mission to his world.

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