The American scholar and writer Dallas Willard died yesterday aged 77. He had been struggling with pancreatic cancer, which was first diagnosed in the late summer of 2012.
He wrote much about spiritual transformation and had a wonderful way with words that sounded anything but like an academic speaking.
One thing he said that has stuck with me was his warning to those looking to give their lives to Jesus. He was insistent that they should be told about 'the lions'. A reference that life will be tough following Jesus. He was keen to address the creeping consumerism he identified in Christian formation.
Dallas will be remembered as a humble, self-effacing man who was always looking to grasp ever deeper the reality of the Kingdom of God for his own life.
In his book Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God he conveys with a matter of fact-ness, “Few people arise in the morning as hungry for God as they are for cornflakes or toast and eggs.” He did.
I like, many of us in the Vineyard, have been impacted by his classic The Divine Conspiracy. We remain utterly indebted to his life's study and works. We are richer for spending time with his thoughts.
“We must understand that God does not "love" us without liking us - through gritted teeth - as "Christian" love is sometimes thought to do. Rather, out of the eternal freshness of his perpetually self-renewed being, the heavenly Father cherishes the earth and each human being upon it. The fondness, the endearment, the unstintingly affectionate regard of God toward all his creatures is the natural outflow of what he is to the core - which we vainly try to capture with our tired but indispensable old word "love." (The Divine Conspiracy)
There will undoubtedly be many words written in fond and grateful memory of Dallas, but I like, in particular, like what John Ortberg has written yesterday.
Our prayers and thoughts are very much with the Willard family this week.
Be honest, do you like what you see in the
mirror?
There’s no escaping it, in our culture
looks matters. Ask any actor, musician, politician, or man in the street. Our overall confidence and emotional
well-being is tied up with it, which I guess is pretty good
news if you are in the cosmetic business.
Talking of which, Dove, in their latest campaign
for “Real Beauty”, recently hired Gil Zamora, an FBI forensic artist to
prove that when it comes to looks, we are our own worst enemy.
He undertook a social experiment to illustrate the
ongoing struggle women have with recognising their own beauty.
Without seeing his subjects, the forensic artist
created composite sketches of women based on their own descriptions, plus a
second sketch based on the description of a stranger that they spent a short
amount of time with before the sketch.
The end result was extraordinary. In each case the
woman’s own description was different than the description by the onlooker. Their
faces were full of “flaws”, but when the stranger
described them, the sketches were more accurate and more flattering. In an
accompanying video a woman tears up as she realises her self-description
resulted in a "fatter, sadder" version of herself, while the stranger
saw her as "open, friendly and happy."
Dove research shows that women are
their own worst critics. Only 4% of women around the world consider themselves
beautiful.
So yes, we do have an image problem. Now,
I am not sure quite what percentage of men would consider themselves as good
looking or handsome, but the ever-growing shelf of men’s products at my local
chemist might be a good indication that low self-esteem and confidence are an
issue for us too.
Of course, at one level, none of this should
surprise us. We are constantly bombarded with advertising, magazines, films and
TV programmes showing people’s skin to be clear, wrinkle and spot-free with symmetrical
faces, straight noses and super white teeth.
Is it any wonder that our self-esteem
plummets when we look at ourselves in the mirror? And as the weather warms up
(finally) we will become even more conscious of our numerous imperfections and
want to spend money to fix them.
Yet if we, perhaps, notice more of what
we have rather than what we don’t have, our self-perception might just change a
little.
Maybe we would stop comparing ourselves
with others and for once not be left wanting.
When I read the Bible I don’t see
beautiful, perfect, gorgeous people nominated by God to be an example to others.
Instead, I see Moses with a stammer, who chose to have his brother Aaron speak
on his behalf. I see Paul the Apostle suffering with a speech impediment, as
well as well as having bad eyesight. Jesus himself was described as ordinary in
appearance. His disciples were equally described as ordinary.
So here is another way to look at
ourselves.
Polish psychologist Andrew Bienkowski, a
man who was exiled to Siberia and starved himself to death so his grandson
could eat his meagre rations, said that we could approach ourselves by
thinking: I have breath! I have life! I have shelter! I am here…
Be inspired to see yourself differently.
Look at the four basics of life. If you can say that you have breath, family, somewhere
to live and some place to sleep you can say, “Thank God my life is full!”
God allows us to focus on his own perfection
and goodness and to see ourselves as he sees us. We become grateful and
satisfied and learn to avoid discontentment, which always leaves us wanting.
King David famously declares in Psalm
23 says, “The Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want.” So the big, fat,
honest questions are: what is the “shepherd” of my life? And does it make me
not want?
Our confidence and self-esteem can come
from knowing that we are accepted by a loving and gracious God. And by those
who know us, perhaps, better than ourselves.
So, come on, put that
anti-wrinkle cream back and get real. You too guys!
This weekend our worship teams meet at Belsey Bridge, on the Suffolk Norfolk border, hosted by our wonderful Area Worship Co-ordinator Chris Perkins.
We are also delighted to have Marc James as our guest.
Please join with us to pray that this will be a signficant time and another stepping stone in the Kingdom of God being extended in the East Anglia area of Vineyard churches.
Thank you to all our churches who have graciously released their guys to be able to be there.
At a recent leaders’ breakfast time I was
asked by a younger dad what wisdom I would pass on to him, being a parent. I munched
over another mouthful of muesli before eventually uttering what was once passing
on to me: “Don’t always be right at the dinner table.”
We are, perhaps, at our most open and
teachable when we are at school and college. Then we leave and something
happens over night - we are expected to know it all, not least as parents. Of
course, the worst thing is we start believing that we actually do.
A very respected person from my profession
of advertising, who would certainly not call themselves a Christian, was taken
back after receiving mounting vitriol from a particular group of atheists on a celebrity
webpage.
He had asked a TV comedian, well known for
his political views, whether he thought atheism should be taught in schools. He
replied, “No, there’s no need to ‘teach’
atheism. It’s the natural result of education without indoctrination.” In
essence, his argument was that religion indoctrinates young minds and atheism
doesn’t.
But the adman wasn’t sure about the
answer and pushed him further. He suggested that Agnosticism was, perhaps, more
neutral as it didn’t enforce any firm position.
Thinking it would help the discussion
along, he cited a dictionary’s definition of atheism: “a doctrine that there is
no deity”. Futhermore, agnosticism was defined as “a position taken by people
who hold genuine doubts or a skeptical approach to questions to do with God’s
existence.”
He got back a wave of abuse, including from
someone who had in their profile “Evangelical Atheist”. Another replied,
“Relying on dictionary definitions, how pathetic.”
At this point the poor, battered adman submitted
to the growing realisation that these people were no different to “religious
fundamentalists”. They were closed-minded. Any sympathy with their view vanished.
It was Thomas Huxley who first coined the
term agnostic in 1869. You might even describe yourself as one. You may neither
believe or disbelieve, but remain open to the possibilities of God existing.
You simply don’t know.
But it is healthy to keep an open mind.
Not just about the possibility of God’s existence, but in any area of life. In
fact, it is a pretty good way to live. It will help us develop strong relationships
with our spouses and children. It will also help us to be more approachable and
trusted in the workplace?
The more I go on in my Christian faith,
the more I realise how much I have yet to learn. Not least in prayer. I haven’t
got it all sussed with neatly alphabetised answers for every situation. Life is
not that simple. As with all previous generations, my faith comes with doubt.
Besides, I know that if I did have all
the answers I would probably be the most annoying person on the planet. Ask my
family. It would also, undoubtedly, put others off from ever being open to exploring
the possibilities of God.
I need to come to the dinner table and
say, “This is what I think, but what about you?” I need to be thoughtful. Do my
level best to affirm the other person. And if they don’t share my view, that is
really okay. We will get more respect that way.
In the Bible Jesus often answers a
question with another question. On one occasion rather than saying that he is
the Son of God he asks, “Who do you say that I am?” He just loved getting people
to think. In fact, you could say that Christ died to take away our sins, not
our minds.
Part of what it means to
believe in God is to live in the question, not in the answer. It is to enjoy
the mysteries of life, of which there are many. But Ipersonally believe that
we will get the best out of life by being openly-minded to new possibilities.
Not least to the promises and claims of Jesus Christ. Now, you can either choose
to believe that last sentence or not.
Recently I had a meeting planned over in
Oxford, but having heard the weather forecast for snow that weekend I wondered momentarily
if I should go.
I kept hearing phrases like ‘adverse
weather conditions’, ‘severe weather warnings’ and ‘don’t travel unless
absolutely necessary’. And on top of that we are all supposed to know what ‘amber
alert’ means.
Not one to give up easily, I decided to toss
back my head and laugh in the face of weather warnings and continue with my
plans for the trip. Okay…well almost.
I packed an overnight bag, put a shovel in
the back of the car, along with jump leads, a blanket and, for some unknown
reason, a large bag of Minstrels, thinking if I was stuck in my car on the
motorway at least I wouldn’t starve. Oh! and a double CD of Charlie Parker.
Well, it could be a long night!
The thing about snow is it is a very
disruptive thing. Motorways shut, trains get delayed, schools close, and Amazon
can’t deliver.
As someone who generally hates disruption
and likes to plans ahead for any anticipated inconvenience, snow is very much
my bête noire.
(I once drove 26 miles to avoid a 3-mile traffic jam on the M1, I am that sad.)
But having seen the
fun that my kids have in the snow and the joy it brings me in seeing them play,
I have been helped to rethink one or two things.
What if disruption
was not a bad thing, but an opportunity for spontaneity? What if disruption was a gift that stops us
in our tracks and breaks into our carefully planned routine?
What if disruption
could be seen as a voice that speaks into our soul and says, “Stop what you are
doing and listen to yourself. Listen to others around you. Listen to creation.”
When was the last
time you did that?
When did you seriously
listen to someone else apart from yourself? When did you give your undivided
time to someone you love and spend it actually listening, not just
hearing? When did you stop to ponder
about the direction of your own life? Maybe you are slightly afraid to listen
to your own real feelings for fear the wheels might come off?
The good news is you
are no different to anyone else.
When we are
inconvenienced we can find ourselves getting angry, irritable and short with
people. True?
These are not good
personal discoveries, but then we can think we don’t need to be cured of
anything in particular and believe life is just fine.
Stopping is not easy.
Like a car, it requires a reasonable breaking distance, depending how fast our
life is going. We have to prepare to stop. Sometimes we are forced to slam on
the brakes hard.
So what is our Plan B
when Plan A does not go according to plan? Do we even have one?
A friend of mine who
has partly inspired my thoughts here, Brian Draper, works with executives to
nurture their spiritual intelligence. He calls these times ‘holy disruptions’. In
his book Less is More he talks about divine opportunities that force us to
reconnect with ourselves, others and God. They actually start to help us feel
human again and see the return of a sense of purpose. It is where we begin to
breathe again in between the quantity of demands and rediscover a quality of
life.
As Christians, we
would call that a spiritual encounter. We become aware of something other than
us that leads to life having a greater significance.
I love those poetic
and profound, words of Jesus’ found in Mathews’ gospel: “Look at the birds of the air; they do
not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds
them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can
any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”
The funny thing about
snow is how beautiful and delicate it is. Something we might not notice if we
are too busy trying to avoid it.
We are pleased to announce the landmark provision of an innovative, independent, worldwide, theological training initiative. Following an extensive period of consultation and planning, Vineyard Institute will launch on September 1st 2013.
Vineyard Institute will be a multinational, multicultural and multigenerational working partnership between all Associations of Vineyard Churches; with the aim to move forward and unite existing, recognised and future theological training under one umbrella, in order that leaders can be trained and supported at all levels of church life around the globe.
John Mumford, National Director for the UK & Ireland and member of the VI Board, said:
‘We recognise that there is a need for the Vineyard family globally to unite together to improve our theological training, so with this in mind we are pleased to announce the Vineyard Institute, the first worldwide Vineyard partnership for theological training.
We believe that the Vineyard Institute will provide the highest level of theological training for us as a movement. This will assist us as we pass the baton to future generations and continue to plant churches around the globe.’
Rich Nathan, Senior Pastor of Columbus Vineyard and member of the VI board, added:
‘The Vineyard movement is expanding rapidly into the Majority World, and this presents varying language, cultural and economic challenges. Our aim with VI is not only to raise up leaders at all levels with outstanding Vineyard theology and praxis; but also to make training and equipping readily available to emerging leaders from all over the world, with content translated and contextualised into their own culture, with subsidised tuition in low income and majority countries and regions. Through this we can truly have effective theological training occurring in every country where we have Vineyard churches.’
The Vineyard Institute will draw from the best Vineyard theological resources available, as well as having a heavy emphasis on a two-way flow of content and best practices from local contexts, to provide an ever-evolving sharing from within the International Vineyard family. Derek Morphew has been appointed as the VI Academic Dean, where he will oversee a team of the best theologians in the Vineyard movement.
Vineyard Institute is committed to supporting the students of Vineyard Leadership Institute to completion of their certificate. The additional academic resources of VI will provide VLI students many more courses to choose from as they continue in VI.
We have our first ever East Anglia Area Celebration this weekend at King Edward VI School (Spring Lane entrance, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 3AU). Hope you can come. It is a great opportunity to meet with other churches and see the bigger picture of all the Lord is doing amongst us.
For this Sunday evening we are particularly thrilled to have Dave Workman with us from Vineyard Cincinnati, USA.
Dave is married to Anita and has two married daughters. He leads a vibrant city church and brings with him a wealth of experience, not least in the area of servant evanglism, which has helped to see his church grow to around 6,000 people.
Dave is also the author of the increasingly influential book Outward Focused Life.
Need some inspiration? A few book suggestions to take you through the 40-day period leading up to Easter, should you find them useful. (All linked to Amazon.)
(Not sure if this book is influenced by the ex-Archbishop of Canterbury's subequent move to CS Lewis' alma mater Magdalene College, but has had good reviews nevertheless.)
Come and connect with other Vineyard churches in the East Anglia Area for a special evening of worship, teaching and ministry.
Being our first ever East Anglia Area Celebration, we are thrilled to have Dave Workman, senior pastor of Vineyard Cincinattias our guest speaker.
Dave is married to Anita and is the author of Outward Focused Life. He leads a vibrant church in the heart of a large US city and brings with him a wealth of experience, along with and a passion for serving the community. We are in for a treat.
Venue: West Suffolk Vineyard, King Edward VI School, Spring Lane entrance, Bury St Edmunds, IP33, 3AU.
A night to get inspired and empowered for sure. See you there!
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