james’ blog

James’s Blog: One Trick Pony.

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James’s Blog: One Trick Pony.

I think that, for many years now, I’ve really only had one message. I think about the lectures I’ve given, sermons I’ve preached and stories I’ve told in the recent past and – to me – they’re mostly variations on a single theme. My life consists of repeated attempts to find different ways of saying the same thing over and over again. It makes sense to me; I’m definitely more of a “Do one thing really well rather than lots of things badly” personality type. It’s also something I can imagine God saying to me: “James, I’m giving you one message to proclaim. Just the one, but it’s an important one. I don’t think you’re quite up to handling several things at once. Be as creative as you want in sharing that message, but try to stay on focus, OK?”

I’m sure that there are plenty of people who are expected to multitask, but it also seems totally consistent with God’s love of community that He would share the work out among His children rather than overload one or two and let the rest spend the day at the beach. Billy Graham is, I think, an example of someone who had just one job, and good things happened when he made that his priority. Pay careful attention to that desire to have a finger in every pie, because maybe it was never your pie in the first place. It’s just rude to stick fingers in pies that don’t belong to you.

So, what’s the one thing that God has given you to do or say? It certainly helps to know what it is, and you could do a lot worse than doubling down on it.

And the one message I’ve been repeating for the past decade or so? Well, I’m not going to just come right out and tell you what it is here, am I? Where’s the fun in that?

James’s Blog: Skimming the Sun.

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James’s Blog: Skimming the Sun.

I had a thought the other day.

There is really only one story – God’s story.

You and I create stories, but the only bits that will last are those that reflect the heart of God’s story. I don’t mean that only stories that talk explicitly about God are the only ones with any value, rather a tale’s worth depends on how much it reflects the story from which all other stories flow. Give me a yarn spun by an atheist with the scent of heaven in his nostrils rather than another two-dimensional moral diatribe written by someone with a fiery pen and a cold heart.

God’s story burns at the centre of the solar system, orbited by every other story ever created. There are stories that are popular and lauded, but are really nothing more than lifeless, icy rocks spinning out into the infinite void. Then there are others, small and ignored, that rotate so close to the sun that they burn with a lover’s passion and can’t be seen without looking at the source itself.

I hope that, whenever I write and whatever I write, I am in some way honouring the story that keeps me warm at night.

“Since all the world is but a story, it were well for thee to buy the more enduring story, rather than the story that is less enduring.”  – St. Columba

James’s Blog: The God of All Comfort.

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James’s Blog: The God of All Comfort.

“We must face the hard truth that no-one loves well who hasn’t suffered.”

Larry Crabb

 

“Praise be to the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,” writes Paul to the Corinthians, “who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” It’s a bit of a mouthful, and Paul certainly wouldn’t get a good mark in any writing class (far too many ‘comforts’), but hopefully you get his point.

In case you don’t, it’s this: suffering isn’t all about you. One of the tricks that suffering plays on our mind is to make us even more self-focused; we struggle to see beyond our own painful situation. God, however, has His own tricks, and one of them is to turn suffering on its head by making it about how we can help others. Tell me, do you think the Enemy likes it when God disarms his great weapons so completely? Suffering equips you to love in a way that a life free from unpleasantness doesn’t.

“For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives,” Paul continues, “so also through Christ our comfort overflows.” If your goal is a life free from suffering then don’t bother with Jesus – he’ll just get in your way. If, however, your goal is a meaningful life then realise that suffering is not just part of the journey, but a key part of the process, and one you are not alone in. Don’t get distracted. Offer your experiences to those around you who are troubled. In this way suffering can be turned into comfort.

James’s Blog: Noises that Sound Good.

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James’s Blog: Noises that Sound Good.

I am not musical but I love music; it’s such a clever idea – noises that sound good. Also, I like it when people put words to the backdrop of said music. I believe that they’re called ‘songs’.

Like most people, I have my own personal taste in music, but it’s a taste that seems to put me at odds with the Christian majority, a fact I find hard to believe. Surely I can’t be the only one who thinks that most church services could be improved by the introduction of some Dubstep?

When I was a teenager in the 90s, the Christian music I was familiar with didn’t do anything for me. As for the lyrics? Well, let’s just say that I felt more of a spiritual kinship with someone like Kurt Cobain than I ever did with Matt Redman or Martin Smith. One of the best things that ever happened to me at university was meeting Terry Wright. During Fresher’s Week, Terry sat next to me in a chapel service purely because I looked like the type of person who was into the same music as he was. He was wrong, but only because I had never heard anything like it before. Terry had an extensive knowledge and collection of alternative Christian noise from such labels as Frontline, R.E.X. and (my own personal choice of the mid to late 90s) Tooth & Nail. It was a revelation to hear these bands playing music more to my tastes, and singing about their faith in a way that resonated with my bruised and growing soul. Take, as a random example, a simple verse from The Prayer Chain‘s song, Dig Dug:

Can you hear my heart beat?

Do you even know my heart?

When I hold the doubts of Thomas

As hard as I hold your promise?

I never heard anything like that sung on a Sunday morning, but it was exactly the sort of honesty that I was desperate for at the time. Although I am no longer the angsty teenage nightmare that I was then, I know that a lot of the music I listened to during that time has supported me through my difficult journey over the years, and still provides the foundation for my own personal expressions of worship. I might write a bit more in the future about specific albums and songs that have been meaningful to me (hopefully with fewer  distracting hyperlinks…), but I’ve wanted to write something like this for a while; partly to share something that has been influential and might give a bit of insight as to why I write the way I do, plus also as a belated thanks to Terry for first exposing me to those particular noises that sounded so good.

James’s Blog: Fellow Pilgrims.

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James’s Blog: Fellow Pilgrims.

Crowded together on this train, heading to the city;

Only this is taking much longer than I had hoped.

Nobody seems to care about my needs;

Sitting there, with their loud conversations, loud music, loud chewing.

I can’t believe this is happening.

Do you hear him? He’s singing along to the music on his headphones!

Enjoy the music, go on! Don’t consider what I might want;

Really, all I want to do is read my book in peace.

 

Oh, now what’s this? Another stop at another station.

There’s a man getting on. I hope he doesn’t sit next to me;

He’s, shall we say, rather on the large side. I bet he smells too.

Everyone’s smiling, watching as he makes his way down the carriage;

Right and left, right and left, he looks for an empty seat, and stops next to me.

Sure, sit right down why don’t you? What else could go wrong?

 

Bad parents, messy eaters, I’ve got them all;

Everyone, it seems, is out to ruin my day.

This would be a really nice journey if it weren’t for them.

The headphone singer seems to be getting louder;

Even Gandhi would have punched this guy by now.

Relaxing, this ain’t!

 

This is the worst group of people I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet;

How did I end up in a carriage with them?

All we’ve got in common is our destination;

Now I’m expected to put up with all their nonsense?

 

You’ve got to be kidding me!

Our friend, Mr Fatty, has fallen asleep!

Unbelievable! His head’s on my shoulder! My shoulder!

Right away he starts to snore.

Somebody help me – I think he’s about to start drooling.

Every time I think I’m going to get some peace, someone like this comes along;

Let’s agree that, in future, I should only travel with a certain type of people;

Very nice, clean, good-looking, low maintenance people.

Everyone, in other words, who’s like me.

Stuck on this journey together, they could at least put my needs first.

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

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

I think that there are at least five different types of God to trust. Which one do you put your hope in?

1) The Enabler of Spoilt Children.

This God owes you. Everyone knows that when this God says things like, “But seek first the kingdom and my righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well,” what he’s really saying is, “What do want for Christmas?”. When life doesn’t go well, it is this God’s fault – after all, didn’t he say he’d look after you? Following this God is like being on a roller coaster, dipping and climbing between feelings of confident entitlement and angry disappointment.

2) The One Who Doesn’t Really Mean It.

This God, like everyone else in your life, will let you down. He makes promises all the time, but doesn’t deliver. The only thing you can be certain of is that he won’t come through for you. He’s like a lifeguard who encourages you to dive headfirst into the pool, with no intention of jumping in after you when you get out of your depth. Trusting this God turns you into a nervous swimmer, stuck on the side of the pool, unable to put even a toe into the water.

3) The Master of the Monkey’s Paw.

This God keeps his promises, but in an unexpected and unpleasant way, like one of those horror story genies who gives you exactly what you asked for. He is a trickster who needs to be outsmarted rather than trusted. You’ve accepted that your best bet for happiness is to try and manipulate the small print in order to get a positive outcome. Believing in this God leads to a crushed, submissive spirit that is constantly expecting to be punished ‘…for your own good.’

4) The Divine Bureaucrat.

This God also keeps his promises, but only to the letter of the law. You will get what you’re entitled to – nothing more, nothing less. He is always busy figuring out how little he can give away without being sued for breach of contract. Under this God, the Bible becomes a watertight legal contract. Trusting this God leads to low expectations, and a feeling that he needs to be backed into a corner before he’ll reluctantly dish out bread and water and expect you to be grateful for it.

5) The Real Deal.

This God can’t be contained by small words like ‘gracious’ and ‘generous’. To this God, the promises that are written in the Bible reveal his heart without defining the limit of it. He believes that it is possible to be kind without needing to announce it first, and that children can have birthday presents even though nothing has been submitted in writing beforehand. Following this God will get you into trouble, but the good kind of trouble, and eventually you’ll be able to face whatever life throws at you with a quiet confidence and hope.

James’s Blog: A King of Two Halves.

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James’s Blog: A King of Two Halves.

I’ve been doing some work for a sermon on Jesus as the Messiah, and it got me thinking. Israel had been waiting and watching for the Messiah for hundreds of years and when he finally appeared they missed him, because he wasn’t the sort of Messiah they were looking for. They had been expecting a great political and military leader to set the nation’s wrongs right – a new King David. What they got was a homeless preacher who was obsessed with healing the sick and lacked nationalistic zeal. What I realised yesterday was that the Old Testament makes it kind of obvious exactly how the Messiah would follow in David’s footsteps.

David’s kingship is a story of two halves. His rise to the throne is told in 1 Samuel, and is full of some very well known stories. David slays Goliath and flees from Saul, fearing for his life, and eventually forgiving the man who persecutes him. He faces many obstacles, but the theme that comes through is best spelt out in 1 Samuel 30:6 – ‘David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him…But David found strength in the LORD his God.”

By contrast, the story of David’s kingship in 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles is very different. Although he achieves many important things, the stories that stand out from David’s reign are not like those that went before. Instead, we hear about his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband; his trust shifting from God to his army; being told that he will not build the temple because he has too much blood on his hands; a brutal civil war because he was a bad father to Absalom. These are all things that happened after David reached the pinnacle of power. Yes, he was a great leader and a godly man, but the Old Testament isn’t shy about his failings. It’s almost as if those who compiled the stories want to say that David, the refugee shepherd of misfits, trumps David, the mighty warrior king, every time.

If the people of Israel had seen that, then they might have been able to make sense of Jesus. Of the two halves of the great king’s story, it makes perfect sense that the Messianic Son of David would base his life on the first. After all, Jesus himself said that it was the poor in spirit who would lay hold of the Kingdom of God, not the influential power brokers. I have to confess that I can’t understand those Christians who think that the best way to further God’s purposes is from the throne, from a position of strength and power. I wonder if they’ve even ever read their Bibles.

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?

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