Oh God can you forgive us?
We sacrifice our innocents
In so many ways.
We defile their youth
with adult filth
and age them before their time.
We shake their security
with adult quarrels.
And we take their lives
far before time
for the love of ” rights” and ” freedoms”.
Oh God forgive us
for the altars to Molech
we have made
to shatter young lives.
Oh God forgive us
for emulating Herod
again,
this Christmas.
Unless the USA does some deep soul searching it will never be remembered in the annals of history as it could have been – a truly great nation. The recent tragedy of 26 Americans not being able to fulfil their destiny saddened us all.
When I look at USA I see so much potential. Unlike other nations and empires it was conceived as a democratic nation – a nation of the people “under God”. The Romans for all their engineering and culture will still be remembered as brutal oppressors and the British as imperialists. But the US has often (not always) had a more altruistic motive. The nation entered both WW1 & 2 reluctantly but to serve humanity. The Marshal plan, the Peace Corps and its overseas aid have been signposts of its heart.
However, it is also the nation of trite TV and film, gross affluence and even worse the home of pornography – but most disastrously of all, mass shootings.
I enjoyed visiting the US. The people were overwhelmingly friendly and generous. In many ways I felt at home there, but the fetish with firearms is confusing for those of us who come from other democracies. Many of us find the power of the firearm in the US, frankly, obscene. In a civil society one can argue for the regulated use of appropriate firearms but as an outsider I see a national addiction and like any addiction it gets out of control and dangerous.
For me the saddest is the alliance of many Christians with the gun lobby. Knowing Christ, could we, even in our wildest imagination, see him supporting NRA? The Christian is called to be counter cultural by proclaiming in a prophetic fashion, the life and the life style of Christ.
I weep and pray for my American friends. You have gone through so much. No nation should see its young wilfully murdered. I believe the challenge is to rekindle the vision of a nation under God. Forget about guns, the British are long gone. A nation under God would be the most amazing legacy you could leave for generations to come. In fact the legacy would be eternal.
I have written previously about my father’s experience as an “conscripted” worker forced to work in Germany during World War 2. In the photo below, my dad (on the left) stands with two friends at a tram stop in Berlin in 1943.
At a tramstop: Berlin c1943
From the photo it is difficult to believe there is a horrendous war going on at the time it was taken. Almost four years of war have already been gone through, yet daily life, it seems, is going on as normal. Within the next two years allied troops would storm Berlin and it would become a divided city until the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. The people of Germany may have had an inkling, but certainly no knowledge of, what was going to happen in the future. As best they could, they were living life as normally as possible.
We may have a variety of responses to this. They must have been blind, or foolish or wilfully ignorant. Or, maybe, they were caught in a trap of their leader’s making and they felt powerless to do anything about it.
So often we live like that too. Men are good at denying symptoms of a disease until it is too late. Parents see behaviour in their children that should alert them to dangers but continue pretending that everything is ok. Or most seriously, we know there is a spiritual dimension to our lives but we fail to respond to it.
The other day I reviewed a book by Francis Spufford “Unapologetic”. What I liked about it was the struggle that he revealed as he dealt with those spiritual questions. He didn’t push that “spiritual nagging” aside but opened his life to its challenging journey.
My dad was a man like that. He was the black sheep of his family and the church. He asked questions that no one could, or wanted to, answer. However, as a child growing up it was plain to me that my dad had an on going conversation/argument/relationship with God. There was never a doubt about God’s existence. My dad just struggled to understand God’s intentions, or at other times submit to His call on my dad’s life.
One of the spiritual legacies my father left to me was the image of a real God who comes into our lives. He also showed me that this was a dynamic, on going and relationship. So, unlike the people in the photo above, there was never any doubt about how “life’s story” would end and who was in control.
A Review:
Why, Despite Everything, Christianity Can Still Make Surprising Emotional Sense
By Francis Spufford
If you like Theme Parks and fast rides you may very well like this manic excursion of Spufford’s heart and mind.
The author takes on the thinking of the New Atheists and others but not by engaging in the “God is dead debate” from a calm, rational, fact and logic perspective (which, incidentally will never work, as both Christianity and Atheism must come from faith perspectives). He tackles it from the heart wrenching depths of the human experience. He looks at God’s encounter with his life from the point of view of someone who has to go through the mire of life.
Warning: if you are offended by language, particularly a word starting with the sixth letter of the alphabet you may wish to read a book by Max Lucado instead. This word is repeated or implied often. As much as I don’t like it, it is effective because it does describe our propensity to completely foul our lives.
Spufford brings us to the foot of the cross – the God/man who not only lives our lives but takes on himself, our foulness. The image Spufford paints with his words is uncomfortable, yet profound.
The author confronts the image of the church and acknowledges that it has done itself a disservice in history. Yet also reflects on some of it wins. However, the strength of the book lies in the personal journey of the author coming to grips with the personal reality of grace in in his own mucked up life and in a mucked up world.
I have a few quibbles. Spufford glibly glosses over some important issues with a dismissive wave of his hand, such as the creation/evolution debate, same sex marriage and homosexuality. I would rather he hadn’t mentioned these as they detracted from the main thrust – and quite frankly his approach annoyed me. At another point Spufford speaks flippantly of the Kingdom as a Republic. This muddies the beautiful picture of Christ the King and the Kingdom, and also takes away from the main thrust of his un-apologia.
His writing style is manic. I described it to a friend as “Stream of Consciousness on Steroids”. I found myself rereading paragraphs and pages just to remind myself where he was going with his thought. But that may just be me.
Overall: not a book for everybody, but for those who see life as it is – warts and all, it is a great reminder of a God who steps into this walk with us and for us. It is also a challenge for those who see God as non-existent, absent or remote –Spufford’s God is none of these.
The next O.T. Advent poem comes straight from Scripture. As a piece of poetry it is untouchable. As gospel, it is beyond price.
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;
their feet are caught in the net they have hidden. Psalm 9:15
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” John 4: 25& 26
Back in the mid 1980s the verse above from Psalm 9 and others like it were quoted to “prove” that AIDS sufferers deserved what they got. I have to confess that, at the time, the thought crossed my mind too. In our family the AIDS crisis came to a head when doctors didn’t want to give my wife and baby a blood transfusion during the premature birth of one of our daughters, as they couldn’t trust the blood supply.
In the midst of this crisis in the mid 80s I was asked to visit a couple’s son who was in his mid 40s and suffered from AIDS. With my recent blood transfusion experience I wasn’t feeling any grace towards AIDS sufferers. However, we have a providential God. On the morning of my first visit I read John 4 as part of my daily devotions, which relates the story of Jesus and the woman at the well. Jesus treats this outcast with firm grace: not accepting the sin but loving the sinner and offering her life. During my one hour journey this passage, like an indigestible meal, would not leave me alone. The Word was confronting.
When I arrived at “Michael’s” home, he shook my hand, welcomed me in, offered me a a coffee and then told me a tragic story of family and marital breakdown, losing his children and finding companionship in the homosexual community of the town. This was a “feeling”, he confessed, that he had always been drawn to but had never, previously, given in to. This community, incidentally, took care of each other with an amazing love and grace. I witnessed this on many future occasions. At one point, Michael said to me, knowing that he had a death sentence, that even knowing that he was going to die, if he could live his life again he would be drawn back into this lifestyle – that draw was so strong.
What I encountered was a struggle with sin. But we all struggle with sin. The only difference is that we minimise our own and maximise others – especially sexual sins. For example if our weakness is greed, we prefer to judge people on their sexual behaviour. If our weakness is gossip then the sexual promiscuity of the other is far worse.
Psalm 9 reminds us that all sin is deadly – eternally. It is only with a relationship with God that an adulterous murderer like David could be confident in his salvation. In himself David could not find redemption . He could only rely on the promises of God – the promise of a Messiah – a Saviour. That same Saviour is our only hope – no matter what our sinful condition might be.
On leaving Michael that first time, I asked him why he had been so open with me; never having met me before. He answered, “You shook my hand, came in and drank my coffee.” In the paranoia of the mid 80s that had been his test to see if he could trust me. I had never thought of that. But God had.
P.S. Michael died a few years later having returned to a relationship with Christ.
Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Isaiah 7: 13 & 14
To be slow to believe
and hard to hear
is not a new thing.
Human hearts
are not soft to
God’s miracles
and promises.
In turmoil
God pointed to hope
a King
defeater of enemies.
When all is dark
and the gloom descends
remember
a child was born,
promises fulfilled,
a King delivered.
I admire these young people because they have grasped what it means to follow Christ.
As a teacher it is easy to be swamped with the needs of the moment. There are demanding students, either from a behavioural or learning perspective. We can be blind to the student who is quietly reflecting Jesus in their daily life. They are in the schoolyard befriending the lonely, being aware of, and coming along side, the student with the personal trauma. These students are aware of their teachers’ human needs and encourage them with a word or gesture. They can be seen sharing in games with younger students and drawing them into community. I am privileged to know a number of young people like this and I am humbled by them.
I admire these young people because they have already grasped what it means to be counter cultural. Their values and beliefs are anchored in a Christ shaped view of the world. So often, we Christian adults try to keep a foot in each world. We have learned the “arts” of compromise and pragmatism. Whereas it is a joy see that that the Word and Spirit of God has already, at a young age, formed the new Jeremiahs, Daniels and Timothys for the C21st.
Joshua:
YHWH rescues
A faithful, young
obedient leader
took God’s children
by the hand
into the land of promise
to receive their
God given
inheritance.
Jesus:
YHWH rescues
Is God
whose hands were nailed
to a tree
so that we
could receive
our God bought
inheritance.
The Mousehole Haven
Along the coast of Cornwall there are a myriad of little harbours worn out of the coastline by wind, wave and flood. They are little oases from the turbulent sea. Each cove has its own characteristics. Some are more protective than others and some are easier to access, but each is a haven.
What havens do you have? A good book or TV show, a hobby or craft – something in which you escape from the harsh or busy realities of the day? Or is it a relationship, your family, wife, husband? Some of us seek coves that turn out to be more dangerous than the seas: drink, drugs, sex, gambling – addictions that start as an escape but end up turning into raging internal battles.
In Matthew 11:28 we read: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Here we read of the haven that God sent us – Jesus. Our God knows what our lives are like – He himself lived one in Christ. God is aware of the human condition. It is not as though His divinity inures Him from it. Jesus is the God-Man, the divine and human and He knows our need for sanctuary, from the brokenness of the world, each other and ourselves.
Have you taken up this offer? Have you sought protection from the haven that Jesus offers – that Jesus is?
Travels from Ur 