Month: April 2018

James’ Blog: Psalm 139 for the Modern Pulpit.

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James’ Blog: Psalm 139 for the Modern Pulpit.

1 O LORD, you have searched me

and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I

rise;

you perceive my thoughts from

afar.

3 You discern my going out and my

lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue

you know it completely, O LORD.

 

5 But I think that what you’re doing

is illegal, O LORD.

6 I’m pretty sure you need my permission

to hold my personal information.

7 It’s a violation of my human rights

or something.

8 At the very least it’s a violation of my

personal space.

 

9 It’s called stalking, and it’s actually against

the law, you know;

10 I don’t want you following my every

move, O LORD.

11 I would take out a restraining order if I

could.

12 But I don’t know how that works on someone

who’s omnipresent.

 

13 There was that guy who sued Google

for his right to be forgotten;

so that people couldn’t know his past.

14 And there’s been all the stuff on the news

about Facebook recently.

15 Even Mark Zuckerberg is being held

accountable now.

16 Who said that you were allowed to remember

everything about me, O LORD?

    Who holds you accountable?

 

17 I don’t care if you created my inmost being;

or knit me together in my mother’s womb.

18 That doesn’t give you the right to invade

my privacy.

19 And you say that all the days ordained

for me were written in Your book…

20 Actually, that sounds like a threat;

Are you threatening me, O LORD?

 

21 My business is my business;

My life is mine and mine alone.

22 And it’s none of your business what I do

with it.

23 Or what I do in the privacy of my

own home.

I don’t want you knowing everything I do.

24 I’d rather be anonymous than have

you close, O LORD.

James’s Blog: Five Random Thoughts on the Subject of Trusting God.

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James’s Blog: Five Random Thoughts on the Subject of Trusting God.

1) Trusting God to be faithful is like trusting the sun to be hot. It seems like a sure thing in theory, and we’re very happy to say that we believe it to be true, but we’re also really hoping that we can get through life without having to prove it.

2) I suffer from Truster’s Remorse. It’s that feeling you get when you actively take steps to trust God, but then you worry that the warm glow on the horizon is not the welcoming hearth-fire of heaven, but rather just your bridges burning.

3) Sometimes I wish that I could pin God down before trust is required. It would be nice, for example, to have His signature at the bottom of an iron-clad contract before taking steps. However, I know for a fact that He prefers clay to paper. Plus I hear rumours that it’s possible for even lawyers to be saved.

4) When I reflect on those times that I’ve trusted God with something big – I mean really trusted and not just paid lip-service to the concept of trust – I’m forced to admit that He’s never let me down. Well, except for that one time in 2015 when I really wanted Him to do something specific and He did something else instead. He never seems to like my ideas.

5) C.S. Lewis was on to something when he wrote, “We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.” I’m not really afraid of trusting God, rather I’m afraid that trusting God will mean having to follow Him down some dark paths. So it becomes a question not of trusting God to keep His promises, but rather trusting Him to not break me along the way. If God can be trusted in this way, then I have nothing to worry about. If I can’t trust Him with my life , then it’s time to find a new God, don’t you think?

James’s Blog: Throwaway Encouragements.

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James’s Blog: Throwaway Encouragements.

I am in favour of throwaway encouragements. A throwaway encouragement is a kind word that you slip into conversation, and then move on. A throwaway encouragement is not given in response to someone fishing for compliments. Part of its magic comes from it being unexpected. Furthermore, it must not be dwelt upon – it is given in passing and then the conversation moves on. The hearer is not given a chance to respond. Finally, it must also be true. Insisting that a tone-deaf person is actually a fantastic singer is an unkindness, both to the recipient of the lie and the victims of their newly encouraged talent.

Throwaway encouragements are one way of fulfilling Paul’s injunction to be kind to one another. They can be an unexpected lift to someone’s day; but more than that, they can actually be the catalyst for a significant change in someone’s thinking. Often, we are blind to the things that are obvious to everyone around us, or get stuck in a pattern of seeing things a certain way, and a throwaway encouragement may be the crowbar that springs open a new door.

If you know someone quite well, I’m sure that you can think of a smash and grab positive to dump into their lap while you’re on your way somewhere else. I believe that you have the potential to make a real difference to the people who cross your path. Now, let’s talk about something else, shall we?

James’s Blog: “Peace Be With You.”

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James’s Blog: “Peace Be With You.”

(Once again our church sent out some daily reflections over the Easter period.  Below is the short piece that I wrote for Easter Sunday.)

While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

Luke 24:36

Sometimes I just don’t get Jesus. I mean, there the disciples are, having a conversation (and they were hidden away, so it was a private conversation), when all of a sudden Jesus appears and says, “Peace be with you.” I mean, I was always taught that it was rude to interrupt, but Jesus doesn’t seem to care. He intrudes and cuts them off in the middle of their discussion to offer them something that they hadn’t even asked for, like one of those annoying cold calls in the middle of dinner.

If Jesus really wanted to help, surely he would have gone out and about in Jerusalem and made sure that everyone saw him. Maybe he could have walked up to Herod’s palace, or Pilate’s residence, and knocked on the door with his nail-pieced hand and given them a telling-off. Then everyone would know that the disciples were right, and they wouldn’t have to hide any more, and everyone would want to listen to what they had to say.

Instead, he arrives when they are least expecting it, and gives them – of all things – peace. Peace is all right, I suppose, but what good is peace when everyone thinks you’re a heretic and wants you arrested? What good is peace when your whole world has been turned upside down, and you’re about to undertake the most incredible and demanding adventure you’ve ever known? And when Peter and the other disciples stood there, in the future years, awaiting their own violent deaths because they had followed Jesus, do you think that they stood there and said, “Thank goodness that at least I have peace.”?

I mean, is that the best thing that you can think of? The thing that you would want? For Jesus to intrude unexpectedly in the middle of your doubts and questions and struggles and say, “My peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled.”? Is that really what the resurrection story is about? Is that really what we’re supposed to do with Easter during the rest of the year?

Yes. Yes, it is. “In this world you will have trouble,” said Jesus, “but take heart, for I have overcome the world.” Because of Easter, Jesus is able to interrupt any struggle, any difficulty, any challenge and bring peace. You might prefer him to take away your problems, but he never promised that. Instead, he brings something better. Peace in the midst of problems. We need Jesus to intrude and offer us this peace, because there’s nowhere else that it can be found.

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