Holy Spirit

James’s Blog: The End.

Lioness Writing Ltd Author , , , , , , , , , , , ,
James’s Blog: The End.

So this is it – my final blog post after five years. I don’t know when (or if) I’ll be back, but I’ll be taking the rest of 2020 off at least. We’ll see what happens, eh.

There’s not going to be any profound words of wisdom in this post, no poem or parable. It’s just going to be me saying “Thank you” to everyone who’s taken the time to read what I’ve written, even if it’s only been once. Thank you if you took the time to comment on anything I posted. Thank you if you ever shared anything I’d written with someone else, digitally or not. Thank you for being a part of this particular leg of my journey.

I hope that something I’ve written over the past five years has been personally encouraging or challenging in some way. In short, I hope that neither of us has wasted our time.

There have been some exceptions, but on the whole I have been happy with everything that has appeared on these pages. The ones that haven’t been very good have invariably been so because the well of ideas had run dry for that week, despite me having committed to posting something regardless – but there have been a fair number of posts that I’ve pulled out of thin air at the last moment that have ended up being much better than they had any right to be. Of everything that I’ve written here, I don’t have a favourite, but I think the one that means the most to me is ‘The Man who Sold me a Pear’, which appeared on these pages in year one. I guess I peaked early.

I’m not going to ask you to post in the comments what your favourite entry has been (this isn’t YouTube) but I imagine that – if I’ve been doing this properly – it will have been different for each person. I’m the one sitting here tapping the keys, but ultimately I have always hoped that this was just another means of building the Kingdom of God. If it has been then I’m sure that the Holy Spirit will have His own selection of favourite posts. Hopefully, the list of posts that He didn’t like is a short one.

So, one final time, thank you for being a part of this. May God continue to bless you all.

James’s Blog: Lines in the Sand.

Lioness Writing Ltd Author , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
James’s Blog: Lines in the Sand.

We’re pretty good at drawing lines in the sand, but I wonder where God draws His. What’s God’s deal-breaker? Maybe it’s a good thing to not be able to provide a concrete answer to that question – after all, human beings have a tendency to take lines in the sand and turn then into a box and then to wish hell upon everyone who’s on the outside.

Take ‘Statements of Faith’ for example. These can be helpful things for organisations and churches. They can help individuals find a home where they can grow in some measure of security and comfort, without having to navigate tricky conversations every day. You know what you’re getting. They’re like stablisers; training wheels as we learn how to relate to and love others.

But they can also consist of nothing more than ornate lines in the sand, drawn by human hands; the stone cold truth about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Sin, Humanity, the Bible, Heaven, Hell, Predestination, Women in Leadership, Baptism. Death by bullet points.

Those lines can become a box, or perhaps more acurately, a cage, where what you think about the person and work of Jesus Christ carries as much orthodoxy as what you think about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and someone who thinks differently to you on whether or not women should be allowed to preach is as much ‘in error’ as someone who thinks that God is a cola-flavoured ice lolly.

(Sigh) I’m not against theological wrestling, by no means, but I remember one of my lecturers once saying that the goal of theology is not to provide answers but to categorise mysteries and I think there’s a lot of mileage in that. Certainly, it helps us deep thinkers with the old humility problem. No, what I’m against is drawing lines in the sand in places other than where God might have drawn them.

As I’ve pondered these mysteries, I have adapted my views and changed my positions over the years, and I have no doubt I will continue to refine my worldview as I continue to better understand the rhythmn of God’s heart. But here’s the thing: God has been with me and guided me and helped me and blessed me and used me all the way along my journey – regardless of my views on predestination or tongues or baptism. God has remained faithful while I’ve stumbled along, sometimes holding views that were quite damaging to myself and potentially others. So God must draw His line in the sand somewhere other than along the denominational or theological boundaries that have provided the framework of my faith for so long. Otherwise, at some point in my journey I would have been persona non grata to Him for some belief I held.

I think God does draw lines, and I think there is a point where God says, “You and I can no longer do business together”, but I think this has much more to do with Jesus than it does to do with all those other details that take up so much space on the page – after all, you know who you find in the details…

James’s Blog: Don’t Keep it Outside.

Lioness Writing Ltd Author , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
James’s Blog: Don’t Keep it Outside.
Here’s a quote that I came across last year, and I’ve really appreciated it. It’s from a guy called Andy Peck. “As my old pastor used to say, it’s not how often we go through the Bible that counts, but whether the Bible goes through us.” Read more

James’s Blog: Without Words.

Lioness Writing Ltd Author , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
James’s Blog: Without Words.

For someone who likes words, I seem to spend a lot of my time not able to find the right ones.

Many of my days are spent searching for perfect words, and then trying to arrange them in the perfect order. There are plenty of moments where I can’t even seem to find adequate words, let alone perfect ones. Read more

James’s Blog: Now That’s What James Calls Worship #2.

Lioness Writing Ltd Author , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
James’s Blog: Now That’s What James Calls Worship #2.

Thank you for your patience. Here’s another little glimpse into my musical tastes.

‘Dancing in Concert with the Infinite’ by DigHayZoose.

Read more

James’s Blog: Ascension Day.

Lioness Writing Ltd Author , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
James’s Blog: Ascension Day.

Today is Ascension Day, a religious festival that seems to sneak past most of us every year. It marks the ascension of Christ into heaven, as detailed in Acts 1. I feel like it deserves a bit more recognition than it gets. It’s a significant moment. Read more

James’s Blog: The Sacrament of Having Your Earwax Removed.

Lioness Writing Ltd Author , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
James’s Blog: The Sacrament of Having Your Earwax Removed.

As I write this, my right ear is totally blocked with wax.

Apparently, according to my doctor, I either have very small or very dry ear canals. Whatever.

These days they don’t just syringe the ear to dislodge the offending build-up. No. Now you have to wait two weeks to get a jet of water pumped into your ear. In those two weeks you’re supposed to, twice a day, lie on your side with an ear full of olive oil to soften up the wax in preparation for the actual event.

Because I’m me, I can’t stop myself from reaching the conclusion that having wax removed in this manner is actually sacramental.

Hear me out (pun intended). Read more

James’s Blog: A Second Letter from God.

Lioness Writing Ltd Author , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
James’s Blog: A Second Letter from God.

Some of you may remember that about three years ago, Imogen wrote God a letter, the primary outcome of which seemed to be my scarring my daughter for life – or so I had thought.  One day, about a year afterwards, she announced that she wanted to write to God again.  It turned out that actually receiving a reply seemed to be a factor in her wanting to write a second letter.  It ended up similar in content to the first one, primarily concerned with Space Hoppers it seemed.  This caused me a little discouragement – I had hoped for more theological growth over the the prior twelve months (When I was four years old I was already reading Calvin’s Institutes – in the original French) but you can’t have everything.

Then it was my turn to freak out a little.  What had I started?  Now I would have to write a reply, like last time.  I wasn’t sure where to go with it.  Imogen is our fifth child, and pretty much the only one I think I haven’t managed to break so far, but if I went around pretending to be God all the time then her odds weren’t great.  In the end I sat down and thought, “What do I think God would want to say to Imogen at this moment?” and it all came quite easily after that.

It doesn’t matter how clever we are, or aren’t.  How eloquent and well-read.  How persuasive.  None of that matters, not really.  We will never be more influential or powerful in our words than when we are doing nothing more than giving a voice to what the Holy Spirit is already whispering to somebody’s heart.

“What should I say?” is a decent question.

“What do I think God would want to say to this person at this moment?” is a better one.

James’s Blog: Father’s Day

Lioness Writing Ltd Author , , , , , , , , , , , ,
James’s Blog: Father’s Day

And have you ever regretted those words,

spoken in light but planned in darkness?

Did it seem like such a good idea,

in those days before, when the three of you

laughed and danced and joked and sang

with delight, before delight had even been invented?

 

Did you know, when you said to each other,

“Let us make some people now, some good ones,”

that you were sentencing yourself

to years and years of dirty nappies,

bare feet on carelessly discarded Lego bricks,

and ungrateful teenagers blanking you every day?

 

Did you know that you would spend

sleepless nights, longing for the days

of innocence, when a grazed knee was

the worst thing in the world,

but so easily fixed with a hug, and rewarded

with the dried tears that made you feel loved?

 

Did you know that you would bear it all?

Every broken heart?

Every bad decision?

The death of every pure thing?

Every act of cruelty and hate, some so evil

that they leave an irredeemable scar on history?

 

And does the pride outweigh the shame,

and the hope outweigh the despair,

for the three who trust so much?

Do you say, “That’s my boy!”,

or “I’m so proud of her!” when we take

our first faltering steps onto the shore?

 

And do you see beyond the reborn darkness,

to the flicker of light in every act of love,

so small, so frail and yet so vital?

And when you reach down and we slap your hand away,

is your forgiveness and patience really endless?

(Because I know mine isn’t.)

 

And are you looking forward to that time,

when we’ll finally come to our senses,

and you’ll at last be buried under the weight

of all those “Best Dad Ever!” mugs

that we made or bought in secret

with the stuff you gave us in the first place?

 

And do you have a knowing smile,

or a tear in your eye, as Adams and Eves,

so desperate to become gods,

discover that divinity is hard, ugly work?

Do you ever look at the stars and wonder,

these days, who’d be a father?

%d bloggers like this: