iGod

Keeping an open mind

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 I personally 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.

It’s your choice. Enjoy it.

ASD

Foodbanks - a welcome addition to the festive season

Dr Eve Poole, associate faculty at Ashridge Business School, writes for EA's Friday Night Theology on the value of foodbanks and makes a strong case to go shop for families and individuals in crisis at Christmas.

Often we have to explain that our Storehouse, a Vineyard church initiative inspired by Ann Watson (wife of the late David Watson), is not a homeless programme, but a hard-pressed programme. For whatever reason people fall on tough times. We feel strongly that ours is not to judge, but to show mercy.

Eve Poole cites that "fewer than 5 per cent of those who use foodbanks are homeless. Most of them are ordinary families with cashflow problems from rising bills, spiralling debt, or delayed benefit payments. Many are suffering from unexpected sickness, bereavement, or unemployment."

As our own church prepares for its second weekend at Waitrose, I would recommend having a quick read of Eve's article and letting the stats soak in.

Meanwhile, if you are not near Sudbury Suffolk, there are plenty of other foodbanks around, not least those that are franchised through the Trussell Trust, so why not get involved?

Let's go serve somebody!

ASD

 

How are we doing at doing good?

I have often found myself prefixing four simple yet powerful words to a sentence when trying to get our children to behave or to do something. You know the ones: “If you are good I will take you to the toy shop.” “If you are good I’ll let you have a friend round.” “If you are good you can stay up longer.” And so on.

Of course, there are different understandings of what it is to be good. You might have heard, “Sarah’s mum lets her do that.” Or “Grandpa says it’s okay?” Instant conflict!

I suspect being good or doing good matters to most of us. Sometimes it is out of vanity. At other times we are simply moved by compassion to make a situation better and in the process we feel good too. To encourage us more, scientific research shows that we have improved mental health when we do something for others - it takes our mind off our own woes.

One thing is for sure, doing good definitely does not just belong in the domain of churches, faith groups or charities. Many companies, too, are encouraged to have social ambitions alongside their commercial goals. Just look around at your local supermarkets and you’ll see what I mean. However, this is nothing new.

Back in the Eighteenth century Josiah Wedgewood, the celebrated pottery maker, gave affordable housing for his workers. He also trained them in an age of wide-scale illiteracy. Wedgewood, also the grandfather of Charles Darwin, provided adequate food supply for his staff and went on to build one of the first so-called company towns. Extraordinary achievements in themselves, but he went further.

He eventually became part of an international campaign that would help to see black slavery abolished. Wedgewood was part of a Quaker-led initiative that had as its advertising slogan “Am I not a man and a brother?” He engraved these emotive words with an image of a slave in chains kneeling and praying for mercy. It was a sentiment that caught the imagination among both the religious and the secularists campaigners of the day.

Josiah Wedgewood made the message into fashionable jewelry for well-to-do ladies. It contrasted greatly with the religious upper classes who at that time only stood in prayer as it would be demeaning to do otherwise.

Today many commentators talk about having a social footprint. We are faced with the challenge of leaving either a positive or negative mark on society.

None of us are as good as we would like to be. We have all done things that we know we should not have done, and possibly even feel guilt-ridden about. Is there any hope for us?

I find my own encouragement in the words of the famous hymn Amazing Grace, written by ex-slave trader John Newton: “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound / That saved a wretch like me. / I once was lost but now am found / Was blind, but now I see.”

Goodness comes, even from the word alone, from God. In Jesus we see the perfection of all that is good and worthy. This kind of goodness is holy. I know that I shall never be as good as I would like to be, but by God’s grace and mercy, I am working on it. Like Newton, I can also find forgiveness when I screw up. Meanwhile, keeping close to God in prayer is the thing that helps keep it real for me.

How are you doing at doing good?

ASD

Easter is not just for the religious type

A local vicar and pastor stood by the side of the road holding up a sign that said, "The End is Near! Turn yourself around now before it's too late!"

"Leave us alone, you religious nuts!" yelled a driver as he sped by. Then from around the bend they heard a big splash.

"Do you think," said one clergy to the other, "we should just put up a sign that says, 'bridge down' instead?"

I have heard people say that they are not the religious type, insinuating that, perhaps, I am.  As if I came out of my mother’s womb clutching an open Bible with a full-robed choir singing the Hallelujah Chorus by the bedside. I mean who sets out in life to be religious?

For some strange reason though a few atheist writers recently, such as Alain De Botton and Richard Holloway, find “religion” attractive. In fact, the former writer has gone so far to try and set out a religious life for non-believers. Then there is AC Grayling who has even written a bible for the atheist.

Someone once wrote, “To be is to be connected. And to be connected is to be plugged in.” The Bible states that we are all “made in the image of God”. These are both big, big statements and this is a small, small brain here that reflects upon them. Yet, life is a big experience and so I think it deserves a little of our time to dwell on the big stuff once in a while, don’t you?  And it is also okay not to have a conclusive answer in two minutes. Some things are meant to be pondered over a lifetime. Maybe even over eternity.

I guess for many people though “religion” in the UK stands for a shrinking minority of church-goers who hate gay people, resent women and despise those who have abortions, but anyone with a bit of savvy will know that this not quite the case but, of course, it makes a convenient headline.

However, personally speaking, if my faith does come across as judgmental, intolerant and exclusive, it bothers me and the finger needs to be pointed firmly back at my face.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Sadly, I think at times he is right. I have met many non-Christians whose conduct is better people than Christians. Religion in itself does not make anyone a better person - Christian or atheist. But, of course, choosing to follow Jesus is not principally about ethics, it has to do with an awe-inspiring divine-human relationship.

Shortly our local churches will be celebrating Easter, a time we celebrate new life in Christ through his resurrection, but maybe we could see as the time when Jesus Christ, the son of God, came as the non-religious type for the non-religious type to draw all people to himself into a real, relevant and restored relationship with God the Father.

I truly believe the message of salvation is still as powerful and pertinent as it was 2,000 years ago, because you see Jesus’ death happened in a secular setting, not in a private religious community. It was not really a religious event at all. It happened in the city of one of the busiest and most important trading outposts of the Roman Empire.

On Good Friday we remember how Jesus, isolated and with a minority following, gave his life in a divine act of love for the majority, regardless of belief or faith. Now, I am not wanting to impose my position on anyone, but I do want to put it out there to our community.

We are all free to accept or reject, but let me leave you with this last thought: did Jesus really die just to make us religious? It just doesn’t stack up for me.

Maybe see you at Stour Valley Vineyard Church 10.30 am on Easter Sunday at the Delphi Centre.

Happy Easter!

ASD

Me and the Prostitute

When I was a young man I met a prostitute. No, not in that sense.

It was in the late Eighties and I had just started working in London’s glittering West End for an ad agency. Everything was new and I was still trying to get to grips with my pocket-sized London A-Z.

Thinking I would take a short cut through some back streets to get to the tube quicker I found myself going down this dimly-lit grubby street. It had been raining and so I had one of those black city-type long rolled up umbrellas. Well, I was trying to make an impression.

Walking fast I caught sight of a heavily made up girl leaning on a door way smoking a cigarette, half-bathed in red light. She was wearing, well not very much to be honest, but what she was wearing was in leopard skin print. But what really struck me were her long black suede boots. They seemed to go half way up her body. I remember thinking what an absolute picture she looked and began considering the kind of person she must be.   

Well, I lost my concentration and managed somehow get my “man about town” umbrella caught in one of my shoelaces. I began to run uncontrollably towards this lady trying to stop myself from tumbling over – but, alas, too late. I ended up slumped awkwardly face down in a puddle by her thigh length black suede boots.

I felt this hand reach down and grab mine and pull me up to my feet. My briefcase and its contents were scattered unceremoniously across the street. Not good.

“Are you alright? Can I do anything? Do you need any help? I looked up with utter embarrassment and saw something unexpected - kindness. Not for the first time that evening I had been caught unaware and wrong-footed.

I have learnt over the years, thanks to this chance encounter with a sex worker, that kindness is what makes us human. There is much in society that tries to demean its virtue and label it as the act of church-goers, do-gooders or weak people.

The Roman philosopher and emperor Marcus Aurelius declared that “kindness was mankind’s greatest delight”, but humanist thinkers such as Voltaire saw it as a weakness and argued that there was nothing in it for the individual. He vehemently disagreed with the Christian virtue of “love your neighbour as yourself.”

Nowadays this Enlightenment thinking has gone deep into our society to make us naturally suspicious of any kindly behaviour. It is often dismissed by clever people as being sentimental or moralistic.

Some say that we are only kind to each other to get something out of it for ourselves.  Maybe, but for the Christian our motivations are different. We live not for ourselves but for the pleasure of God. Again, not a popular concept in a secular individualist society. Yet in that place, personal fulfillment and life purpose has a chance to go deeper than if we just live for our own ends.

Admittedly there is vulnerability in doing acts of kindness, but it is a risk we take. We learn to take on board “the greatest commandment” given by Jesus: “love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul and with all your strength.” And along with that, “love your neighbour as yourself.”

Now it may seem a foolish thing to believe in today’s culture but, hey, seeing today’s society as it is, I think I’ll take my chances and be a kind fool for Christ and see where it takes me.

ASD

A new year of promise, pageantry and potential. What’s not to like?

I am rather excited about this year. Now I admit it might just have something to do with the fact that it is the year of the Olympics. My family were fortunate enough to get allocated some tickets for the games. Okay, so it’s not an event that I would naturally choose to watch but, hey, the others are happy. Yes, I am slightly embarrassed to tell you what it is, so let’s just quietly move on shall we?

2012 is also a leap year, which means you liberated women can propose to the man in your life on 29 February.

It is also the Chinese Year of the Dragon, though I am not quite sure what anyone is ever suppose to do with that knowledge, but thought you should know anyway.

The other big event is, of course, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. There will be a river pageant like in days of old floating down the Thames with a boasted flotilla of 1,000 boats.

A specially designed river barge will hold her majesty, which we are told will be 64 feet in length, decked in red and gold. That will be quite a sight to behold, but nevertheless I can’t seem to get the image out of my head of the queen being told to jump off the barge and open the locks by her husband. “Put your back into it, Liz, we’ve still got another six to go until we reach Windsor!”

The other day I found a somewhat dubious online blog called The Year 2012 that gives you an endless stream of information on all things 2012. It contains the weird, wonderful and just plain wacky. And, if you were to believe everything it said, you’d probably want to stay in bed for the whole of the year.

So what are you thoughts on the future? Excited, Worried? Non-plussed?

At the beginning of each year I usually encourage our church to reflect a little on our own personal visions for our lives. We ask: what are our expectations? What do we want achieve? What do we want to improve upon?

Maybe it is improving the quality of the relationship with our children or spouse. Maybe it is something simple like reading more, praying more, giving more. Maybe it is working on some personal character issues.

The point is we are created to be purposeful. We believe that God wants us to reach our full potential as human beings and get the most out of the precious life given to us.

After all, didn’t Jesus say, “I have come that you may have life and have it to the full?”

So we go into the New Year with fresh expectations that it will lead to a year of life-changing experiences. It will undoubtedly have its challenges and difficulties, but it is in these times that faith is fashioned and our awareness of God’s involvement in everyday life grows.

For many of us, 2012 it will undoubtedly be a full year, but hopefully will be a personally fulfilling one too. For the Christian who believes in the Life-Giver, it comes with that deeper profundity still, which is something that we are more than happy to share with you. Maybe one of your own life goals could be to come to church sometime soon.

Whatever you do, I wish you a very happy and life-enriching New Year.

ASD

Keep Calm and Enjoy Christmas

(My article reproduced from Community News.)

I remember sitting in a church a few years and hearing a vicar talk about how Christmas is a time of peace and goodwill, and how we needed to find space to just be.

As a young parent I thought, “Yeh, right!”

In all honesty, I strained to hear how the talk finished as one daughter almost caused an international incident by stealing another child’s Buzz Lightyear, while the other threw a habdab because I asked to her give back an elderly lady’s walking stick. Peace in heaven maybe, but peace on earth was stretching it.

In the midst of a busy conference recently I came across a flavour of tea called Moment of Calm. Although not quite tempted to have a cup, it did remind me of those unavoidable ubiquitous Keep Calm and Carry On posters and mugs, which seem to be everywhere like a cheap suit. Originally a wartime poster produced by the British government in 1939, it now has its own parodies such as: Keep Calm and Have a Cupcake and Now Panic and Freak Out. Calmness is something we are seeking everywhere.

I wonder, though, if it possible to have a true moment of calm this Christmas?

When I think of having a calm Christmas myself the familiar Austrian carol Silent Night, Holy Night by Franz Xaver Gruber comes to mind.

What makes the hymn special for me is that it is said to have been sung simultaneously in French, English and German by troops in the trenches during the famous Christmas truce of 1914. It was one of the few carols that soldiers on both sides of the front line knew.

It was estimated that on that Christmas Eve around 100,000 troops ceased fighting and instead, quite bizarrely, shouted Happy Christmas to each other before eventually going over the top to exchange, not gunfire, but presents. There was even a friendly game of football.

I suspect Silent Night has never had a less holy setting, but it was sung where hope in a saviour of the world was needed most. I am sure it was also sung with gusto. It was a symbolic moment of peace and humanity amidst one of the bloodiest and needless wars in modern history.

It tells me that if there can be calm in the midst of the Great War then, perhaps, aiming for some of our own peace and calm this Christmas is not beyond our reach.

We will, of course, be remembering our troops this year who will be far away from home, but for ourselves let me ask: where will we look for our calm? Will it be in a tea bag or somewhere a little more soulful like Church?

There are a number of local churches who have planned Christmas services where I know a time of peace on earth will be on offer (see Church Services on page 4).

But if you do have noisy excitable kids, like ours, you’re very welcome to bring them to our hour-long Christmas Eve Family Carols service at 7pm in the Delphi Centre. Why not come early for free mince pies and mulled wine? It’s usually a lot fun and just the thing after you’ve done all your shopping and preparations. We’d love to see you. We’ll even promise to sing Silent Night, Holy Night too.

Meanwhile, may I wish you a happy Christmas on behalf of all of us at Stour Valley Vineyard Church.

ASD

Sweeping change

Well, what an interesting time we are having as a nation. If you are from the US looking in you may well be wondering what on earth had gone on or for that matter gone wrong. 

This week I spent time with two financial guys. One whose business it is to advise the football world on buying and selling clubs and the other to advise normal people, like me, how best to invest their hard earned money to aim for a half decent retirement, among other things. The latter tells me that he has seen 20% of value has been wiped off the Footsie 100 in less than two months. Not a good time if you are looking to cash in your pension. It is something, as we have seen Stateside, that politicans seem unable to influence or affect the outcome.

And if that is not enough we have had the erruptions on the streets of our beloved country. After the peaceful demonstration over the death of Mark Duggan last weekend the term rioters has been quickly replaced with Looters. Yet, some politicians such as the Mayor of London tell us that Britian is not broken. At this point that remark feels very English and stiff-upper lipped. Others might say it is just sheer denial.

Social network platforms such as Twitter and Blackberry Messenger Service have been criticised for fanning the flames of angst-ridden teenagers. But actually, surprisingly, I have come out in support of Twitter and other social platforms. As much as they have been used for bad they have also been redeemed for good.

The community has struck back - with a broom in its hand. It has drawn communities together, black, white, young and old, not seen for a long time. Now no communtiy leader or church leaders seems to know exactly what the Conservatives mean by 'The Big Society', but something has happened without too much involvement from the politicians themselves. This, perhaps, could be described as a great example of their philosophy. Dunno.

A friend of mine who runs a young peoples' charity in South East London is plain exhausted with the constant round of meetings with police, politicians and local organisations, but as a Christian leader in the community he has been encouraging supporters to do acts of kindness.

For instance, I heard how one police station in SouthEast London had had delivered to them a load of cookies to their exhausted and emotionally tired officers. With all the recent bashing the police got from politicans the public alternatively has shown their solidarity with their local bobbies. I cannot stress that these expressions of love are equally important as any rushed through law or government initiative.

if you are near a police station that has been on the frontline, maybe this is something that your church could organise to do.

The church, at its best, shows compassion through practical outward signs of invisible grace. For as James said, "faith without works is dead." We stand with all, we cry with all, we shout justice for all. This is God's love in action.

This is the outward-focused church at is best. It is not idle, a talking shop, inward-looking or obsessed with evangelism programmes or simply going deeper with God with discipleship courses. It is loving, generous, kind and sacrifical. It loves without terms and conditions.

Meanwhile, on a more mundane note, our church is about to own a football team, but not sure we will be using the services of my city banker friend. Apparently there is no money in it for him. Ah well, that's the fickle world of football.

ASD

 

 

 

 

Our church has just begun its third annual Summer of Love campaign. This is our own particular response to serving one another and our community with love and kindness while we take August off from Sunday services.

During the process of planning I have been reflecting on the personal sacrifce that has to be made to make something like this actually work.

In essence, it needs us to be willing to put ourselves out a bit. We are great at talking up this stuff, sharing past stories, but at the end of Summer it will either happened or not.

To that end, I like what Steve Sjogren has to say about it:

It’s all about doing the work, not talking about the work.

Leaders aren’t leaders until they lead.

Writers aren’t writers until they write.

Worship leaders are so until they bring others into worship.

Evangelists are only evangelists when they evangelise. Connect with the Lost.

Don’t just talk. Do the work. Start today.

 

As ever, Steve cuts to the chase. Guess we had better listen to him and start then!

ASD

What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

Would you swim the English Channel? Would you audition for X Factor? Solve world hunger? Wouldn’t it be great if we were guaranteed success in everything we touched?

Coming down from Mount Olympus, I wonder if a fear of failure stops us from going forward in life. Maybe there is a fear of failing in marriage because our parents divorced.  Maybe getting an education because we fear we will not have the commitment to see it through. We can end up counting the cost of failure more and totally miss the joy of trying.

When I was at school in the sixth form seven of us decided to cycle to North Wales to raise money for a Mountain activity centre in Snowdonia. For some dumb and inexplicable reason we choose to go in the February half term when it was bitterly cold and snowing. Considering that I had never cycled more than five miles in my life, you could say a cycle ride of 180 miles over three days was a risky strategy. Well, we made it and the local newspaper ran the headline “The Magnificent Seven.” Though I seem to remember in the film that only three of them made it. Anyway, moving on.

Life doesn’t give us any certainty, but certainly there is hope. In our church there is no stigma attached to failure. We come as we are. We come as failures being restored.

We have just come through Easter when the Church remembers the great sacrifice that Jesus made for us by dying on a rough wooden Roman cross. The Easter story tells us Jesus took our guilt and shame and substituted himself for us. We acknowledge that we can’t save ourselves from ourselves. It has to have divine involvement.

It’s amazing to think that the first pope of Rome, Peter, did not see himself as infallible, but a miserable failure before his reinstatement by Jesus.

He was one of Jesus’ closest friends, but when the tough got going he ended up denying Jesus three times to save his bacon. Not great qualifications for becoming the Pontiff of Rome you might think. Peter knew he had done wrong against God (sin) but received forgiveness from the only one that ultimately really matters. Furthermore, he was then trusted by Jesus to start the Church, which today sees a third of the world population following Jesus. Not a bad result for a failure.

So perhaps the question is not what would you do if you could not fail, but what will you do when you do? Contrary to some held beliefs, an authentic life in Christ does not live with continued guilt and shame, but allows us to come and be accepted for who we are, being set free and given new hope for a fail-safe future. Now you have to admit that is pretty cool.

ASD