The Pope

Just heard on Newsnight that John Paul II has received communion and is rumoured to have had the Last Rites read. If this is true, let us pray that the grace of God passes to him in his last hours, and that the Lord brings forth a spirit filled successor. One who will strive to galvanise ecumenism. One who will cut through liturgy and legalism, and take the focus away from earthly trappings, and but Jesus firmly at the centre of the equation.

My prayers are with the Pope and Roman Catholics, I personally don't see the Pope as someone who has authority over me, but as he was kind enough to respond on two occasions to correspondence I sent him, he is in my thoughts and prayers.

However I strongly disagree with what the Vatican preacher said the other day at the Easter service... "Come back Holy Father, come back! Easter is not Easter without you!"... au contraire I say. Christ's death and resurrection make Easter, not the presence of any mere man of authority in any denomination.

N

Addendum:

Since this last entry it's been confirmed the Pope has blood poisoning, heart failure and circulatory problems... he has also definitely been administered the last rites. May his passage be as swift and painless as possible.

In the Shadow of Golgotha

I thought it would be good as it's almost Easter, to share a song, written by a bloke called Phil Overton, which once touched me:

See the darkness gather in the eastern sky,
A mystery of darkness coming from on high.
A young man is hanging on a cross to die,
The Son of God left alone in agony.

This is no romantic green hill far away
This is Golgotha, and I hear the people say:
“It’s the place of a skull, meant for vagabonds and thieves.
It’s the place of a skull, and nobody ever leaves… ever leaves alive.”

The eastern sky is red, and the young man now is dead.
A cross-shaped shadow lengthens on the ground.
After all the pan, well your gonna look in vain,
For his so called friends, but they’re nowhere to be found.

This is no halo-shrouded stained glass window scene,
This is Golgotha, and I know just what they mean:
“It’s a place of a skull, meant for vagabonds and thieves.
It’s the place of a skull, and nobody ever leaves… ever leaves alive.”

Suddenly it’s morning, and the darkness disappears,
A girl is softly crying, she’s blinded by her tears
Jesus stands beside her and he gently speaks her name,
All at once she knows, “He’s alive again… HE’S ALIVE AGAIN!”

And this is no fairy story but reality.
Death it couldn't hold him.
He arose in victory!
From the place of a skull, to a place of majesty,
From the place of a skull, to a place where we can see that He’s alive…
Oh yeah, Jesus is alive
Jesus is alive,
Jesus is alive.

Jesus didn't endure the cross, because it would make him famous, nor because he was a masochist. He was tempted to escape before he was arrested... and he could have done it too! He chose to stay, to make a sacrifice for our sins. That we might experience the Father's forgiveness. We can't comprehend in full, the pain of that sacrifice. It wasn't just nails and lashes. The Father could not look on the sin of humanity, and had to turn his face away... until it was finished. He had to separate himself from his Son, the person who was completely connected to him "of one being with the Father". Imagine ripping half of your brain out, as well as losing a loved one.. you might get a sense of it... but never the full measure.

Why did God do it? Here's why (taken from John 3):

"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

and Romans 5:7-9

"Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!"

If you wish to know more, ask somebody at your local church!

Love and blessings and best wishes for England.

Nick

Daffodils... There is a Green Hill, Not So Far Away

With apologies to the late great William Wordsworth for a blatant rip off of his masterpiece, I thought I'd post something of beauty, to make you think. If you want to see the photo landscape for real though, it's on Primrose Hill, by the BP garage roundabout o the A46 just out of Alcester:

I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A cross of golden daffodils,
Upon the hill, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars so bright
That twinkle on the Milky Way,
A humble but glorious never-ending sight
Upon the slope at break of day:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The trees above them danced, but they
Outdid the rustling leaves in glee:—
A poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company!
I gazed, and gazed, but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Common Misconceptions

The newspapers today are all full of the news of Jeff Weise, the Chippewa tribe American boy who gunned down his grandfather, grandfather's girlfriend and 7 of his classmates in cold blood. The press are focusing on his suspected Nazi sympathies as being what drove him to act in this manner. If this is so, I find the news all the more tragic. The native American tribes do not fit the criteria for being of the "master race", so almost certainly would have suffered had Hitler ever had access to them. Even more important than this, the native American tribes in their own way, had a taste of what to expect from Nazism when the colonial powers oppressed and suppressed them all those years ago.

Some of the tabloids are focusing on the question Weise apparently asked one of his victims, before slaying him... "Do you believe in God?" We have to be careful when analysing this. Nazism, wasn't just a warped political ideology, it was a belief system, and it wasn't compatible with Christianity, as Hitler himself publicly declared. In fact, the heart of Nazi ideology is suggestive of extremist Darwinism being applied itself as religion, which is far more than the scientific community would have ever wanted it to go.

During the Nazi Party reign, Christians such as Maximilian Kolbe (see on my historical party guest list), and Martin Niemoeller were persecuted for adhering to Christian principles and promoting the Gospel of love, Niemoeller was jailed, and Kolbe was martyred in Auschwitz.
Furthermore, the youth of Germany were exposed to brainwashing literature that condemned Christianity and played to ethnic fear and insecurity. I don't even want to repeat some of the filth they were expected to learn.

I feel great sympathy for those who have lost loved ones, as well as the Chippewa Community (and the wider Minnesota community affected by this). In looking at what happened, I just wanted to clarify that there is no link between Christianity (or for that matter theism in general), and the Nazi party.

My prayers naturally go out to those who have suffered.

N

Not Good... Defintely Not Good.

Somebody at work is trying to set me up on a blind date, not for me thanks, I know what I'm like and it wouldn't be beneficial! I know in many ways, I just need to chill out, but I just hate situations that are forced.

First of all I like to sound out where a person is coming from, before even approaching them. As far as I'm concerned, a blind date is an artificially generated scenario... and I'd rather get to know a person within a proper social environment first, where there is no danger of expectation, and there isn't a focus on one person (if the conversation isn't going too well, you can always move on and talk to somebody else, no questions asked).

Secondly, I'm not a secular minded person at all, and however "nice" somebody is, I'm always going to be looking at every relationship (platonic and romantic) from a spiritual perspective.
Thirdly, for some bizarre reason, there was a reasonably attractive young lady at church this week, and you never know she might become a regular... it's also possible she's just there to get her bans read and her bloke doesn't want to come along... need to check out that fourth finger next time! This warrants further investigation!

I wouldn't even go on a blind date if someone at church tried to set me up, I'm just not comfortable with the whole idea. I am a self confessed control freak, but this whole thing is giving me bad vibes.

My best mate keeps telling me, that one of my greater faults is that I won't be told. You can't tell me something is good for me, or that I'll enjoy it, because I don't want to be a sheep... I don't like other people pulling my strings. If I want to read something, watch something, chat someone up, it'll be because I'm comfortable with the idea... not because I'm acting on another human being's agenda!

Would people (especially people who don't know me really well) please let me make my own decisions? To quote Tolkien: "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger!"

It's my life (and more importantly it's God's), I would at least like a say in it!

And in the final analysis, we've seen on two separate occasions what happens to me when I go into any kind of relationship without having done my homework properly... it's disastrous.

I'm paranoid that this is going to get set up against my wishes, which will leave me with two options. 1) Don't go... no one has a right to expect me to go to something they know I had no desire to see happen., or 2) Go, and just use it as a chance to witness. That will either scare them off, or get them interested in God. I've got absolutely no intention to pursue anything romantic from such a set-up.

The Plot Thickens

Church was VERY interesting.

The person who had caused me problems wasn't there, and the cross was kept where it was for the service... and something strange is happening.

People are starting to rally to the cause... other people think it was a really good idea to put the cross in the chancel, rather encouragingly one of our congregation at University, who has come back for the Easter break told me that at his church, they always have a cross in the chancel. I'm not eager to rush into conflict, but I have a feeling that it's inevitable... to quote Sting "a gentleman will walk but never run", once your faced with something nasty you might as well deal with it, otherwise it's always going to be there. The sooner you deal with a problem, the sooner you can move on I guess.

The service was very good though, the praise and worship was Spirit filled, and I was really convicted over my "dolly out the pram" attitude... you know, things go wrong so you get tempted to sin out of feeling sorry for yourself!

Anyway tally ho!

Where Shall I Go? What Shall I do?

I went out last night and was more than a little concerned that somebody was setting a trap for me. I had a fallout with someone a while ago, if you read back in the archive you'll probably pick up on it. I had a nasty feeling somebody was going to try and patch things up between me and the person concerned, without bothering to test the water over how I feel about such a move.

This would have been dangerous, I have forgiven the person, but I feel distance would be appropriate from now on... my friendship was used, and nothing constructive can come from trying to reignite a one sided relationship.

If in the future things progress in this way, it could well end up with a big schism between more people, so I'm hoping I am just being defensively paranoid. I am always trying to work out the various strategies and tactics people will adopt when handling situations that involve me.

Thankfully last night was me just being paranoid, the person I feared might show up didn't and it was a lot of fun in the end... must stay off concentrated orange juice... it does something to my head! Either that, or the Chinese restaurant were cooking the wrong kind of mushrooms if you catch my drift.

I'm writing this now, because I'm seriously trying to burn up time before going to church. I don't wish to go early today, the person I had a clash with is going, and I know they will take the opportunity to have another dig over what I did with the cross. I'm trying to avoid all possibility of talking to that person, because it'll mean one of three things. 1) I'll back down. 2) I'll confront, 3) I'll run away. None of these options seem constructive in the short term. There will come a time for conflict, but now doesn't seem right to me. Let God be the judge of his church... and may his judgement come swiftly. Sooner the house is in order, the sooner the building can start.

So... where shall I go, what shall I do? In conversation last night it came up that maybe I should move churches, because I don't have a lot of support where I am and that I seem to be giving more than I receive. To be honest, I've never really needed to lean on anyone in a pastoral sense at church, so I don't feel I need to receive from people to the degree other people assume. The only support I do need is when I go out and do something radical, I need backup at those times... and at the moment I'm not getting it.

I'm not a church hopper. I don't believe in flitting from one church to another like an experience junkie. If you have a strong spiritual constitution, you should try and help build the church you are in first... always consider carefully before you leave.

The time may come for me to go, but I feel God has something planned... besides it was something like 3 years ago to this very day (Palm Sunday) that I received a vision. I went up to receive my Palm cross and as I did, I saw a picture of a double edged sword half drawn from it's scabbard... and I heard a voice say "Take up my burden". That same day, somebody had a scripture given to them that was pertinent to that image.

It's probably that picture that inspires me to stay the most. I have a purpose, and part of me feels that the place that vision was given, is the place it will be fulfilled.

However, i am thinking of stepping back from a couple of responsibilities, and on the odd occasion visiting other churches.

Blessings

Nick

Politics (Yawn)

Righty Ho. We'll be up for an election soon, so I thought I'd better state my position.

First of all, look at the chart at the bottom of this entry. I got this from http://www.politicalcompass.org/ where I also obtained my political profile.

Basically, not one of the parties is close to where I am politically. With regards to authoritarian (vertical) issues I am closer to the Lib Dem's, but socio-economically (horizontal) I'm way off to the left, probably nearer the greens. Please note the huge political vacuum that I occupy, because of this I cannot in good conscience (at present) vote for any mainstream candidate in my area.

This is why I am opposed to party politics (don't get me wrong, I'm also opposed to totalitarian regimes). The ideal as far as I am concerned, is for an open senatorial system. If your MP votes purely on their own personal views, and to their best information, the views of their constituents, you are going to have a wider scope of views reflected in national policy... that would be a true democracy. I have devised a model for how such a government could be established. Basically, the key positions would be shortlisted & voted for by the whole house (on the basis of a whole house consensus on who was best qualified for the job), and the succesful ministers would appoint their own subsidiaries as they saw fit. The house would vote on bills, and the majority vote would be carried.

I think this is a good way forward, this would help eliminate voter apathy (I think many people don't turn up to vote, because they feel politicians are largely all the same, and that whatever they vote, faecal matter will be elected... only the shade and consistency of the faecal matter can be chosen between... I don't just think it's about "can't be bothered" people).

Unfortunately, as popular as this idea is among people I've spoken to, I've been told getting politicians to vote in these changes would be like "getting turkey's to vote for Christmas". It takes away power from the parties and restores it to the people, which is why it will never get brought in until something dumb happens like a civil war (and no unlike others I don't think we're immune to such a scenario, just because we already decided to bludgeon one another four centuries ago. Yugoslavia was a very peaceful place just before it's deconstruction).

Please whatever you do though, take the time to click on the political compass link above, take the test and find out who is closest to you before voting! Heck you might even surprise yourself... I certainly did (I thought I was centrist)!

That's it now, you won't hear me saying anything on the subject anymore as it's making me feel sleepy already!

Does this make me a political subversive????

Matt Redman

So why do I like Matt Redman's music a lot? Well, primarily it's because he's a songwriter who doesn't shy away from some of the more powerful Old Testament and Revelation imagery. You don't find many people writing songs featuring the Living Creatures, or the Shekinah (Glory Cloud of God's Presence) descending on the temple and making all the priests hit the deck.

I think the other reason I like his stuff is that the song I quoted yesterday (Heart of Worship), was written as a repentance in his church. The leader of the church had been convicted that the praise times were becoming more about the music and the band, rather than glorifying God. So he was all set to stop musical worship altogether. This inspired Matt Redman to write "The Heart of Worship", which says it all with regard to Praise and Worship really.

I also wanted to say sorry that yesterday I had a bit of a go at "older generations", I was generalising a fair bit... and of course I accept that not all older people are like that, I know some really great, kind and wise older people... but it's the stereotypical traditionalists I'm attacking.

Nick Versus Tradition

In an earlier post I promised you I would talk about why traditions and customs can be idolatrous.

Before I do that though, I think its only fair that I make one thing absolutely clear... some of the ancient hymns (e.g. Be Thou My Vision) I really love, and it's not the songs themselves I am knocking.

Idolatry isn't just people getting jiggy and dancing nekkid round totem poles... OK? Let's try and keep that image out of our minds LOL... depending on who's doing it, it's quite grim!

No, idolatry is when we let something, anything take centre stage in our lives instead of God. Yes, ironically this can actually include religious worship. Remember, the Israelites built the golden calf as an act of worship (although yes, admittedly, they were ALSO getting jiggy and dancing round it nekkid ).

One of my issues is that the older generations, are so afraid of letting go of some of these religions, they are stifling the growth of church. What are they afraid of? "If we let them sing Matt Redman songs... we'll never hear "proper" hymns again" Is that what they think? Firstly, I would say I think Mr Redman is one of the finest worship songwriters we've had in a long time... and in fact in a bit, I'll quote him. Secondly I say this. When I got a chance to praise God with my kind of music, it did not make me despise traditional hymns, it made me appreciate some of them even more... because I was somewhat closer to the source and object of that praise. What is truly important in worship, is not how old a song is, or how it's played or sung... but how sincere it is coming from your heart... that's it.

It's the same with liturgy (most of which was created primarily to combat heresy), if you recite words over and over again parrot fashion, there's a temptation inside... to switch onto autopilot and not really mean them. I sit in church sometimes, and hear the congregation utter the creed or the Lord's Prayer... and the congregation sound just like the Borg from Star Trek. There is a time and place for liturgy, but it is not beneficial to have a worshipful service, where the emphasis is on ink on a page and not Holy Spirit influenced hearts.

So before handing over to Matt Redman I'll leave you with a couple of scriptures:

Psalm 4:5 "Offer right sacrifices and trust in the LORD."

Psalm 51:16,17 "You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."

Jeremiah 7:22,23 "For when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you."

Mark 12:28-34 "One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
“Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

And finally, the words to Matt Redman's Song "The Heart of Worship"

When the music fades and all is stripped away

And I simply come

Longing just to bring something that's of worth

That will bless Your heart

I'll bring You more than a song

For a song in itself

Is not what You have required

You search much deeper within

Through the way things appear

You're looking into my heart

I'm coming back to the heart of worship

And it's all about You All about You, Jesus

I'm sorry, Lord, for the things I've made it

When it's all about You All about You, Jesus

King of endless worth, no one could express

How much You deserve

Though I'm weak and poor, all I have is Yours

Every single breath

I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You All about You, Jesus
I'm sorry, Lord, for the things I've made it
When it's all about You All about You, Jesus

My only hope is that something written blesses someone

N