The 'devotional life triangle'

We all learnt about the 'fire triangle' at school. (Remember? Probably not.) Fire needs 3 things to work properly: food, oxygen and heat. (All coming back now, isn't it!)

Other things have triangles too - such as the 'washing up triangle' (not in school text books). Washing the dishes needs 3 things to work well too: soap, heat and friction. If you skimp on one, you need to make it up with the others!

But here's one for what many Christians call our 'devotion life', or 'quiet times' - helpfully crystallised by something Graham Daniels said recently: our devotion life needs 3 things - bible, prayer ... and meditation. (The last is a big theme in the bible, but neglected in our church circles a little. I think it's done, just not talked about much; sounds too hippie.)

So in order to build a good personal relationship with the Living God, we need to read our bibles, pray, and think - that's all 'meditation' means.

If we miss out 'bible', it becomes vague Eastern nonsense - just thinking about nothing.

If we miss out 'prayer', it becomes brain-fodder - understanding what God says to us, but not bringing our thoughts and responses back to him.

If we miss out 'meditation', it becomes cold duty - we do our daily bible reading and prayer, but then job done. It's not sunk deep, and we relate no more closely to the Lord.

Greatness in service: review of 'We Were Soldiers'

In the film 'We Were Soldiers' you see a quality in Mel Gibson's character, Lt Col Hal Moore. The devout Catholic Military leader is given the task of flying his team into Vietnam at the start of the American involvement in the conflict. The film follows the true story of how he prepared, led and cared for his division to the very moment they withdrew from the field. Facing off against impossible odds, Moore is seen as the servant of all whilst displaying some of the most manly, brave, courageous and heart warming care for people under this charge. His speach early on sums up his attitude beautifully - he intends to be the first man on the battlefield - and the last one off it.

I think this is an example of what it means to be the least among all. Moore never let his rank or prestige elevate him above his troops to the point where he no longer cared for them. He prays for a troubled soldier. You even see him taking an horrified soldier who's accidentally called an airstrike on his own team mates and lovingly calling him back to the work he MUST do in order to save their lives.

For me this has called me back to reality. I could enjoy the sun, take a break, relax. Take the much needed rest time - surely i deserve it? But Jesus would call me back to the hard work that still needs doing... Is it wrong to enjoy the good things of life? No, of course not. They're gifts from a loving creator. But for the Christian, the world is still in decay. It's rotting and we're to be salt and light, a preservative to retard death and prolong life. We're to be busy at the work Jesus has given us to do. Rest is good, but at the end of the day, if we want to be great and face eternity knowing we did all we could for a broken world, we'll need to knuckle down and do the hard work now.

For me, that means getting on with loving my family, serving their needs and demonstrating what Jesus is like in thought, word and deed. It means praying hard for my mates, their troubles and their needs. It means using time in the best possible way, not wasting it or spreading myself so thinly people get ripped off. Helping people practically. Using my skills to serve them. Spending time with them. Calling them to the God they're rebelling against and begging them to stop being AWOL and get reinstated by their true Commander and Chief, Jesus Christ, who died for them to forgive them.So while you're enjoying the sun, spare a thought for a hurting world in need of a Saviour.For the people who know me, i want to echo Lt. Col Hal Moore.
This is my pledge to you guys...

"Let us understand the situation; we're going into battle against a tough and determined enemy. I can't promise you that I will bring you all home alive, but this I swear, before you and before Almighty God: when we go into battle, I will be the first one to set foot on the field, and I will be the last to step off. And I will leave no one behind. Dead or alive, we will all come home together. So help me God."Ephesians 6: 12 "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

(By Martyn)

'Good' Friday?!

It may seem strange to call yesterday 'Good Friday', after all we remember Jesus dying and usually if we were to call the anniversay of someone's death a 'good' day, people would probably think we were rather disrespectful and that we can't have liked the person who died much at all!

BUT Good Friday is very different and calling the remembrance of Jesus' death 'good' is for neither of those reasons, in fact it is quite the opposite...

Firstly, calling the day ‘Good Friday’ suggests that we are remembering something good, but the nature of Jesus’ death was definitely not a 'good' death. Jesus died in the most horrific and humiliating way, on a cross; He hung there by his hands and feet until He died. It was a slow and agonising death and in no way could it be said that it was 'good'.

So why on earth is it called ‘good’ Friday?! Jesus dying on the cross is the most amazing example of how God uses all things together for good and how he could even use the evil actions of the self-seeking men surrounding Jesus' trial and death in His perfect plan, for good and to answer our biggest need!

I believe the reason for the name ‘Good Friday’ is found in the effect of Jesus’ death. The fact that Jesus willingly died that first 'Good Friday' means that He took the punishment we deserve, He bought us much needed forgiveness from God and it meant that although we don't deserve it, we can have a relationship with God, the loving, good creator of the universe...

Calling it 'Good Friday' is a reflection upon how good God is and how amazing it is to be able to have a relationship with Him...and Good Friday reminds us of the serious means (ie Jesus' death) that was necessary to deal with our rebellion and rejection of God and enable us to have a relationship with Him...

...and being able to have a relationship with God isn't just 'good', it's the best news in the world! But 'best news in the world Friday' doesn't have quite the same ring to it!

When fundamentalism is liberalism

I was very interested by the most recent Louis Theroux programme on the Phelps’ family church in the USA. These people are self-styled fundamentalists, they rejoice in all of God’s “judgements” (ie. when someone dies of cancer, or in an accident, or fighting in a war… the Phelps’ family church thinks that these are signs of God’s anger and therefore we should all be joyful about these tragedies). Louis had a great time with his trademark liberal tone and bringing his own worldview to bear on theirs.

The interesting thing is that I came away from the programme thinking that these people had a lot of good things to say (about taking the Bible seriously, and taking God’s judgement seriously) but they had missed a huge dimension of the Bible’s portrayal of God: his character. Countless passages in Scripture say how judgement is God “strange” work, and how his heart breaks to see humanity so rebellious against his good rule (Ezekiel 18v23; Hosea 11v8 etc etc..). Absolutely, his wrath is directed now against the world as we all go our own way further and further into immoral living and wickedness. But it is insane and deeply unnatural to rejoice in individuals’ deaths as if somehow God is rejoicing about tragedies too. The Phelps family have made God in their own image: self-righteous, unbalanced, and uncaring.

They have taken Bible passages about rejoicing in the final judgement of God (Revelation 19v3), and have viewed every event in life through that lens, skewing the meaning of other passages to fit that. I’m not even sure they had read some bits of the Bible.

“Liberals” in the church are those who take their scissors to the bible and cut out the bits they don’t want. The liberal movement has done much to undermine Christianity in our society over the last century or two. “Fundamentalists” are supposed to be the opposite of that. But isn’t it interesting that “fundamentalism” can become the new “liberalism”? Whatever your particular agenda, when you’re selective, rather than taking the bible as a whole, it’s liberalism.

“Fundamentalism” is the great evil in our world, in popular opinion. Fundamentalists do terrorism, start wars, make enemies. But true Christian fundamentalists are not like this. Christian fundamentalists want to know God as he chooses to reveal himself in the Bible, and not a version of God we have invented ourselves. That’s what it is to follow Jesus fundamentally. Christian fundamentalists love their enemies. At least that’s what Jesus told us to do. We have a wonderful God who does not ignore evil and will judge, and we rejoice in that, but that doesn’t take away from his compassion, forgiveness for those who trust in Christ, and above all, love.

Men of Wellfield: a chance to serve and grow!

The few of us who have been reading through books on Friday mornings have taken a breather. But we're going to re-launch on Friday 29th April.

'Ah!', I hear you say; 'That's the date of the Royal Wedding!' Well, leave all that to the ladies! We can start the day with a stonking book.

'But', you say, 'it's a bank holiday. I'm not having a 6.30 start!' But here's a deal: why not start your bank holiday with a 7.30 start and hot bacon butty? Tempted? You can be home by 8.30! (Then we'll do 6.30 as usual in the following weeks.)

If you haven't been coming on Friday mornings, here's why you might want to:

1. We'll read 'Total Church' (by Tim Chester & Steve Timmis) - it's exactly about how to do church our sort of way.

2. In order to get on with the work, we need to grow, and think - that's what good books are for.

3. If you say, 'I'm not a good reader', then that's the best reason to come! Neither am I - that's why it's good to meet together to talk about a book; it disciplines us, and gets us doing it; it helps us bounce ideas off each other - it gives reading purpose!

4. We're all so busy - therefore we meet when we're not doing anything else. And clear thinking helps us not get cluttered with our time, but use it well.

5. If you're in on the discussion about how church should be, it makes you less of a passenger in the church, and more of a partner in the work, at the hub of it and owning it.

So, are you coming? You can get the book on Amazon, or 10 of those.com etc. Read the intro and chapter 1 for the 29th.

Go on - you know you can! And girls: get your man the book, and send him along!

For better, for worse...

"For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death us do part, according to God's holy law, and this is my solemn vow...... with my body I honour you, all that I am I give to you; all that I have I share with you; within the love of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit."

I didn't have to look up these vows. I remember them really well, from my wedding nearly ten years ago. And there have been many times when I've had to remind myself of them!

I'm really gutted at the moment about a few of our friends giving up on marriages because of "irreconcilable differences". It just seems so hopeless, with entrenched opinions and a total failure to see the other point of view. It's always very easy to see someone else's faults and very hard to see your own! In my experience, it's NEVER EVER the case that in a marriage dispute one party is totally in the right (shhhh.. don't tell my husband I've admitted this one...!).

I know that some situations are dreadful, abusive, destructive and hopeless. But to see this from the eyes of a child..... Reuben (our 6 year-old), last night prayed for a couple "that they would love each other again". Might seem simplistic (when life is actually so complicated), but really I think there's something in his views.

It would be interesting, I was speculating today, if instead of making a custody order, a court made an order telling a couple they just had to get back together and work through their differences. It would be what children want, that's for sure. They are very clear-thinking about families and loyalty.

We want to say as a church, that if there are people out there, who think that their marriage might be salvageable, but don't know where to start, we want to try and help if we can. Please get in touch. Kids might have a point to make about families after all.