teaching

James’s Blog: Another Year, Another Step.

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James’s Blog: Another Year, Another Step.

So how was your 2018?

A while ago I suggested that there was only one question worth asking myself in any end-of-year reflection. It’s not so much about what happened, but rather how I responded. Did I grow in 2018?

As for those things that did happen, the last quarter of the year was hugely significant. We’ve been back from Australia for four years now, and most of that time has been spent waiting for God to make clear what kind of things I should be doing next. Every now and then I would try to take matters into my own hands, and bring order out of chaos. It didn’t work. God pushed back. But since the summer, the wheels have been turning.

Since the end of August, I have started (and finished) the first draft of a novel –  something I have avoided for years, because writing a book that was just one story seemed so intimidating. Since the end of August, we’ve moved into a new home that is much more suitable for our oversized family. Since the end of August, I have been offered a position as an ‘Associate Bible Teacher’ in our church, and as of January will be working part-time in this role. In other words, the days since the end of August have been constructive, focused and have given some shape to the coming months of 2019. I like shape. It agrees with me.

Seeing things fall into place has been satisfying, like placing the final piece of a particularly awkward jigsaw puzzle, but that’s not the most important thing is it?

Have I grown in 2018?

I think so, yes. I’ve had my faith stretched in some good ways, and I’ve seen God work. 2018 has not left me unchanged. And that is, as always, the most important thing.

James’s Blog: Look Before You Leap.

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James’s Blog: Look Before You Leap.

Travis was looking down at the piece of paper on the clipboard when he heard the polite cough. He looked up. It was Nigel.

“Hi Nigel,” Travis said. “Good job today. You’re demonstrating some excellent technique.”

Nigel looked pleased, but only briefly. He then returned to looking like a man with something on his mind.

“Thanks Travis,” he replied. “Errr, did I hear right at the end of the lesson? Something about going up in a plane next week?”

“That’s right,” said Travis. “We’ve done about as much as we can on the ground for the moment. Time to get up there, and get a taste of what it’s like in the sky.”

Nigel looked as though Travis had just confirmed his worst fears.

“Going up? In a plane? Why do we need to do that?”

“Like I said. Just to give you some experience,” explained Travis.

“But why do we need to do that at all?” said Nigel.

“Sorry, mate. I’m not following.”

“I’m just asking, is the plane thing compulsory?”

Travis looked confused. “Well, it is eventually, mate. You can’t do skydiving without going up in a plane. The clue’s in the name – sky diving. But don’t worry. It’s just a taster. No-one’ll be jumping out of any planes next week.”

“What?” said Nigel. “Who said anything about jumping from a plane?”

“Sorry, mate, I must be confused. You do know you’ve been doing skydiving lessons for the past four weeks, don’t you?” said Travis.

“Yes, absolutely. That’s what I signed up for.”

“And that a big part of parachute jumping is the actual, you know, jumping.”

“I signed up for skydiving lessons. I wasn’t really aware that you were going to make us do an actual parachute jump at the end,” said Nigel.

“Let me get this straight,” said Travis carefully. “You wanted to take skydiving lessons without doing any actual skydiving?”

“That’s right. You really should have made it clearer in the literature.”

“Mate, I thought it was pretty clear, in the whole concept, you know? What would be the point of doing the lessons without the end product?” said Travis.

Nigel tutted, as though he’d just been told that his taxi would be five minutes late. “It’s just that I don’t see why I can’t just have the lessons so I know what I’m doing, and leave it at that.”

“Mate, it’s your money, but didn’t you think it a bit odd that we charged you for things like the plane and actual parachute if you weren’t going to do any jumping?”

“I saw that more as a donation. To support the general concept of skydiving and subsidise those who really wanted to do the actual jumping,” explained Nigel.

“And what about all the waivers we made you sign? Didn’t they give you a small clue?” asked Travis.

“I signed those because I agreed with the principles behind them. The safety instructions and stuff. And, as I said, I’m a big supporter of the general concept of skydiving. I wouldn’t have signed them if I’d known you were actually going to make me do it,” said Nigel.

Travis shook his head. “So what’s the point then? Why bother doing the lessons?”

“Well,” said Nigel, beginning to get excited, “I was thinking that I could take the stuff you taught me, go home and teach my friends how to skydive. Run my own courses, as it were.”

“Mate, you can’t do that! It took me years to become a qualified instructor! Skydiving is dangerous!”

“Oh don’t worry,” said Nigel reassuringly. “None of us would actually do any skydiving. You wouldn’t catch any of us going anywhere near an actual plane. No fear!”

“So you’re telling me that you want to take the lessons, but not actually do the skydiving?” said Travis suspiciously.

“That’s right,” agreed Nigel.

“And then you want to go and teach your friends what you’ve learnt, and then none of you will actually do any skydiving?”

“Right again,” said Nigel.

“And no-one is going to jump out of any planes?” said Travis.

“Too right,” said Nigel. “Why would we want to do something like that?”

“Yeah,” said Travis dryly, “what a crazy idea. Imagine learning how to do something and then actually going and doing it? Madness.”

“Good, I knew you’d understand.” Nigel clapped his hands together. “See you next week then…oh wait, no I won’t. The week after that. No planes the week after, are there?”

“No, mate. No planes,” said Travis.

“Thanks Travis,” said Nigel, turning away and heading towards the exit. He called over his shoulder as he left. “Keep up the good work! You’re a great teacher!”

“And you’re a great pupil,” Travis muttered under his breath, “but you’ll never be a great skydiver.”

James’s Blog: McChurch.

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James’s Blog: McChurch.

Welcome to St. Ronald’s,

May I take your order please?

We can give you a serving of Jesus,

With an extra helping of cheese.

 

We can do a Resurrection Burger,

And a side of Holy Ghost fries,

As long as you like it LOUD,

We don’t do any other size.

 

We’re all about convenience,

You don’t even have to stay,

No-one really likes washing-up,

That’s why we do takeaway.

 

Sure there’s other restaurants,

And other places you can eat,

But we’re cheap and quick and easy,

And we won’t disturb your sleep.

 

Don’t worry about nutrition,

Or if we’ll make your soul fatter,

As long as you leave feeling good,

Then quality doesn’t matter.

 

Our menu’s tailored just for you,

Our staff will help you to begin,

Our manager is God Himself,

But I’m not sure He’s ever been in.

James’s Blog: As One With Authority.

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James’s Blog: As One With Authority.

“When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowd were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.”

Matthew 7:29

 

In Jesus’ time, appealing to someone else’s authority was a key tool of the religious teacher. A rabbi would thread quote after quote from well-regarded predecessors to give his words weight. For whatever reason this didn’t resonate with the crowd, but Jesus – one who never appealed to religious tradition – had them spellbound. He, they said, had an authority that other teachers didn’t.

Modern preachers and teachers rely on the authority of the Bible, but there must also be a personal authority to the words that we bring, otherwise there’s no point. I’m sure we’ve all sat through sermons where the Bible said all that needed to be said, and the preacher should have just sat down after the reading. The messenger must bring something to the encounter, or go home.

Some preachers misunderstand what the authority of the Bible is, and treat it like an academic journal to be quoted from. They fill their sermons with verse after verse, like footnotes in an essay, and their own words serve no purpose other than to connect a string of unrelated texts. You’ll know you’ve heard a sermon like that, because despite being full of Biblical references, it sounds like theoretical musings rather than something heavy with life and power. Remember that the piling up of quotes to support a position was how the teachers of the law did their business. People can tell that there is no real authority in such words.

Instead, every single sound from your mouth should be pulsing with the vitality of the Bible, by virtue of being a message that’s consistent with the beating heart of God’s word. When you do this, then your teaching will be thoroughly Biblical without even needing to quote chapter and verse.

When I was on the other side of the world and would sit and listen to people like Laurie and Pete and Paul (and the rest) talk about sharing Jesus’ message, their words had authority. This was because they were talking about things that they knew – not things that they just knew about (though they did), but things that they knew. They shared from the overflow of their own experience, and that gave their words the authority that cannot come from heavily leaning on someone else’s knowledge.

When Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God, he was talking about something that he knew, something that he had experienced. When he spoke about God and the divine vision for creation, Jesus was sharing from his own life. His words had authority not because he knew a lot about God, but because he knew the Father. No mental gymnastics were required. Likewise, if we want to teach as one who has authority, we too must know what we’re teaching about.

James’s Blog: My Philosophy of Communication.

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James’s Blog: My Philosophy of Communication.

Isn’t it nice when you discover that someone has put into words something that you already knew to be true on an instinctual level?  A few years ago I stumbled upon a quote that resonated with my soul.  As a preacher/teacher, I sort of knew what I was trying to do – I wasn’t really so interested in ‘educating’ as I was in ‘inspiring’.  However, ‘Inspiring’ is not usually listed as a Learning Outcome on many course outlines, much to my disappointment. Read more

James’s Blog: Chicken and Egg.

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James’s Blog: Chicken and Egg.

Evangelical Christians don’t have a Pope, nor believe in papal infallibility, but sometimes you wouldn’t know it from the way that some of us talk about Martin Luther, or John Calvin or our favourite authors or a particular leader or church. It’s par for the course for us human beings. We struggle to hold conflicting things in tension, we seek order and patterns in everything, even when there are none. We are happiest when something is clearly 100% good or 100% bad, black or white, right or wrong; when our heroes and villains are undiluted.  When we’re young, and we lack experience, wisdom and courage it’s easiest for us if we can attach ourselves to someone and let them do our thinking for us. We all have this subconscious desire to be discipled by something. For some of us, we buy wholeheartedly into a church and adopt uncritically its interpretation of the Bible on faith, love, sex, prayer and God.

I remember once I was doing some teaching to some visitors at Cornerstone. One of the people listening found something I had said difficult to accept in light of what he had been taught by his church and, to his credit, he came to talk to me about it. I took him through one of the New Testament letters which had been influential in shaping my thinking about the topic. I could see, as we went through the letter together, that he wasn’t convinced. His knew and respected his church leaders, and who was this nobody trying to tell him that they were wrong? At one point in the letter we came across a verse that, to be honest, may as well have said, “That thing that James is telling you? Yeah, it’s right, and that means that what your church has taught you is wrong.” He looked at me and said, without a single drop of irony in his voice, “So I just need to find a way to interpret that verse”. That was when I knew that I’d lost.

I’d seen it before, in victims of cults. You present an alternative interpretation. It shakes their worldview a little and makes them uncomfortable, so instead of unravelling the thought, exploring it and seeing where it takes them, they run to a church leader who performs some complicated exegetical gymnastics in order to be able to say, “That verse that says that thing – it actually means the complete opposite”. And all is right with the world again.

I see it in myself and in others, where instead of letting what the Bible says shape our theology, we let our theology shape what the Bible says. A sad day, when truth knocks on our door, and we just hang out a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign.

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