A Ludicrous Comparison

I was reading one of the local newspapers the other day and was appalled at a dreadfully inappropriate comparison I found.

First a bit of background.

In recent months, a local pressure group called Stratford Voice, has been locked in a bitter struggle with local government over a proposal to place another bridge across the Avon. They argue that it would spoil the historic view of the river... and that it would undoubtedly result in land on the far side of the river being converted into parking spaces to boost the revenue of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre which is currently undergoing a renovation programme.

I won't dispute the plausibility of either of those arguments, they could easily be the truth. Whether or not the arguments are being made on a purely nimbyistic crusade is something I leave up to you - the discerning reader.

The group is chaired by a man called Martyn Luscombe and it is his latest comments that I wish to strongly criticise.

Mr Luscombe foolishly drew comparisons between Stratford-upon-Avon's backyard scuffle... and the plight of Zimbabwe. While it is true that the newspaper amplified the sentiment around his words by elaborating a little on what is actually going on in that country; the simple fact remains that it was an incredibly imbecilic argument to make... even as hyperbole it is vulgar, distasteful and completely out of order to suggest the comparison.

While it is true that local government may well ignore the the voice of popular opinion among the local residents... it is there that any comparison ends. Ironically Mr Luscombe, speaking out of turn in an attempt to defeat the footbridge proposals, may well have crossed "a bridge too far" of his own.... and at the end of the day, his battle is just about a bridge... and not about a collapsing economy or the brutal suppression of a nation's citizens.

Mr Luscombe and the people of Stratford will not be suffering any form of torture or severe intimidation, for making their views known. Here are a few examples from Amnesty International of what might be expected if they were in the crisis ridden Zimbabwe and not affluent Stratford-upon-Avon:

• In MDC activist in Mashonaland West province was stabbed to death on 13 April by ZANU-PF supporters outside his house, according to local reports. His brother, a 58-year-old man, also an MDC member from Mashonaland West, reported that three groups of about 60 ZANU-PF supporters came to the MDC activist’s house and started throwing stones asking him to come out because they wanted to "sort him out".
  
• Though nine other MDC members also gathered at his house and retaliated by throwing back the stones, they were out-numbered by the ZANU-PF supporters. The ZANU-PF supporters managed to reach his house and abduct his brother, the MDC activist. The MDC activist was stabbed twice with a knife in the stomach and died at the scene. The brother of the deceased also suffered serious injuries and had to be hospitalised. The case was reported to the police who are reported to have said they were too afraid to intervene.
  
• A 21-year-old woman in Harare, an MDC activist, was woken up during the night on 30 March 2008 by ZANU-PF supporters after she had been celebrating the victory of MDC councillors in the election. The ZANU-PF supporters took her from her house and assaulted her with clenched fists and sjamboks [whips].
  
• A 30-year-old man from Mashonaland East province reported that, on 9 April, a group of "war veterans" burnt down three houses at about 11pm. The inhabitants had previously received a tip-off that this would happen and had fled to the bush.
  
• On another occasion, nine people from a residential area in Harare were detained, while they were attending a funeral, by members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police Support Unit and other people suspected to be members of the Zimbabwe National Army who were dressed in plain clothes.
  
• On 16 April, 22 people were abducted by soldiers and ZANU-PF supporters from their homes in a high density suburb outside Harare city centre during the early hours of the morning. Some of the people were assaulted with booted feet and slapped all over the body.

You can read Amnesty International's full report by following this link. You can also read this report on the BBC News website for more information.

No further elaboration is needed. Stratford Voice and Zimbabwe are poles apart... it was completely inexcusable for the pressure group to make such an analogy and Mr Luscombe should apologise immediately.

If anything positive has come out of this debacle at all; it is that the plight of Zimbabweans gets a little bit more publicity. If that helps to expose the corruption within Zanu-PF and expedite the collapse of Robert Mugabe's iron fisted reign... or even if it merely motivates people to see what they can do to help... then there will have been something good as a byproduct.

Preaching Practice

I promised earlier that I would republish my first sermon here once delivered... I've had to amend a challenge at the end for reasons that you will see. However I'd like to think that the way I've reformatted that challenge for use on the Internet, kills several birds with one stone. If you aren't up for a read tonight... then in the words of Tim Bisley from Spaced...

"Skip to the end!"

I say that because there is still something important at the end that everyone on here should be willing to do irrespective of personal belief.

Anyway, for our sermon we were asked to preach on Luke 7:36-8:3 and here was what I felt led to share:

When you read the story of the sinful woman anointing Jesus, you feel there are certain parallels with the tale of Cinderella.

There you have a woman who is frowned upon by those around her, who nevertheless seeks out the hero because she wants to be with him. At the end of the Bible story and the fairy tale, both women are exalted despite their position in society... on account of what their love means to the Prince or Jesus.

They are both rags to riches stories.

Or perhaps it’s a bit like Saturday night’s programme of Britain’s got talent. I don’t know if you saw it… but there was a woman who was an immigrant worker from the Philippines who sang the song “I will always Love You”. Most people there were singing just to get a glimpse of glory… a shot at fame… but she was also singing for other immigrants and her children who she was separated from. When it came time for her to sing, she moved the entire audience to tears. I wonder how many people watched that show and thought badly of her because she was an immigrant … and yet failed to appreciate that she was singing her heart out so beautifully?

In the passage we read that Simon the Pharisee was... well, a bit of a lousy host. He was glad to have Jesus round for what Adrian Plass might call “a salvation sandwich, or a cup of sanctity”. To him Jesus was a guest, here today, gone tomorrow. All of a sudden a woman who Simon and his socialites – the “It Crowd” of the day considered sinful… bursts into the room and overcome with emotion, starts showing Jesus more hospitality than Simon had done. To this unnamed woman, Jesus was so much more than just a guest. She poured out the entire contents of her heart before him. She had seen Jesus for who he was; desperate to be touched by God... she desperately clung onto him. Max Lucado in concluding his book, Just Like Jesus; makes the observation that we can be seekers of salvation... or seekers of the Saviour.

Simon wanted a pat on the head and a photo opportunity. The woman wanted to know God’s forgiveness and love in her life.

When Simon becomes upset that someone who he considers dirty is showing him up; Jesus makes a comparison between two people who both had their debts cleared. One person didn’t consider his debt that big… and said a quick thank you before clearing off. The other realised just how much trouble they had been in and how emotionally indebted they were to the person who had cleared their debt. They didn’t deserve to be let off such a fee… and yet they walked off scot free. They weren’t going to forget that in a hurry.

I don’t know about you, but when I am deeply grateful to someone for an act of kindness and can’t pay them back for it, it changes my attitude towards them. If I can’t pay them back directly… then I seek ways to live my life in a way that doesn’t make them regret their choice to help me.

In the film Saving Private Ryan, Matt Damon’s character is the recipient of an act of kindness he can’t repay, after his colleagues lay down their lives for him in order for him to be able to live out his. The only way he can thank them… is by living a good life.

Jesus not only saved us from a debt we could not pay; he also came to give us... give all of us who choose to follow him purpose. He takes what is broken and makes it new... and if we love him and are truly grateful, we’d be willing to let him use us.

I’m not clever enough. I’m not strong enough. I’m too sinful. I don’t have enough faith. I don’t have the time. These are all things we can be guilty of saying when God knocks on our door with an opportunity. I know I often am.

However, just look at a list of some of the lowly or shady backgrounds you find among Jesus’ followers in the New Testament. The first gospel is written by a man who once was an extortionist, the inner circle of apostles were fishermen; one of the 12 was once a terrorist. Some followers of Christ were once outcasts because of demon possession, illness or lifestyle. We don’t know for certain, but the woman who broke into Simon’s house may have been a prostitute... whatever her lifestyle was, it was clear that her own people wanted nothing to do with her.
Jesus made it clear that God wanted everything to do with her.

The spotlight is very much thrown on women in this passage. This is surprising because at the time of Jesus, society didn’t consider the contribution of women worth mentioning. Our society has moved on from that… but there are still many kinds of people we can be prejudiced against… even against ourselves sometimes.

Look where God started with those people. They went from the bottom of the barrel, to the icing on the cake.

They went from the rags of brokenness, to the riches of God’s kingdom being poured out into their daily lives.

It can be the same for every one of us today.

Last week I took part in a First Aid training course for work. I was absolutely terrified before the assessment, because I was frightened that I wouldn’t be good enough.

I was missing the point.

The assessors weren’t looking for Charlie Fairhead, Doctor Kildare or some other medical genius. They were looking for someone who was willing to use the basic skills they had learned; willing to do their best in a situation to keep people going until more help arrived. They weren’t looking for a person who was trained to perfection. They were looking for someone to be a willing servant.
Similarly it’s easy for us to fall into the trap that God only calls the obvious people to serve him.
All God needs from us is our willingness to be a part of his plan. Everything else we need on our journey... he will give us.

I heard a story once about a Prince of India who was wealthy, powerful and commanded the fear and respect of all his people:

One day the prince decided to take a walk among those people. As he made his way through the crowds of excited socialites, another person caught his eye.

There before him was a stinking shabby looking beggar, who was standing amongst the other people with nothing but a bowl of rice in his possession.

The prince approached the man but instead of giving him anything, he asked the poor man for some of his rice.

The beggar was bemused and hurt.

How could this man who had enough gold to buy entire fields of rice many times over, have the cheek to ask him for food? Surely it should be the other way round.

However, the beggar was afraid of the prince and dared not refuse him. He held out his hand and placed three meagre grains of rice from his bowl... into the hands of the prince. The prince thanked the man and moved on.

Overwhelmed by the unfairness of the world, the beggar broke down in tears. But as the tears rolled down his face and plopped gently into his rice, he noticed something glimmering back at him. There, sat in the middle of his rice were three nuggets of pure gold.

Suddenly it dawned upon the beggar that the amount of gold was equal to the amount of rice he had given the prince. Though he was now wealthy enough to buy food for himself for a good while... as he stood looking at the prince far away out of reach in the distance, he was left wondering what could have been... if only he’d had the faith to give the prince all of his rice.

It doesn’t matter where we have come from, or what we have done. God wants us to pour our hearts out before him. He wants to transform us.

At the bottom of this blog entry, you'll find a link. If you’ve felt challenged by anything that has been said, I’d like you to click on that link and play the game for a few minutes. It's all good as by playing, you'll be helping people in countries who have little access to food.

While you are doing that, I'd like you to also consider taking the opportunity to give something to God. Whatever that might be, I leave up to you. It could be something exciting that you are experiencing. It could be something you are struggling with. Or find hard to talk about with others. You might want to use it as an act of recommitment or repentance. When you have a quiet moment to yourself, think of the story of the beggar and the prince...and think of the contents of your heart... and what you might want to give God out of your own personal "bowl". Then ask God to take it, and trust him to give you out of the goodness of his grace.

Regardless of what you choose to do about praying, here's the link to the food programme:

FREE RICE

The Institution's Same Old Excuses

During the service at church this morning, my thoughts drifted onto one of my pet peeves - institutional church legalism.

How did I get onto that?

We sang a Graham Kendrick song.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Graham Kendrick's music... some of his songs are really good and were present at watershed moments in my life. My problem isn't with Kendrick or his material at all. You see, my problem is with people who use Kendrick's songs merely to plug a gap.

Staunch traditionalists, when pressed to incorporate modern worship into their services; cling to Kendrick's songs in a bid to look hip.

Actually it's ONE Kendrick song.... almost always the same one...

"Shine Jesus Shine".

Have you ever seen the film The Princess Bride? It's a personal favourite of mine. One of the villain's in the film keeps using the word "Inconceivable" as a response to the efforts of one man who is intent on thwarting his plan:

He uses it to the point of cliche. The word no longer means what it is meant to mean.

I think people's overuse of the same songs, the same liturgy or litany can have the same effect if we are not careful. Please note, don't misinterpret this as a swipe against prayers or songs that are written in a liturgical format. That's not my issue...I cannot fault the words or theology of those prayers. What I fault is the over-reliance on them. The fact that it's easy just to say or sing things parrot fashion, without contemplating what they actually mean.

I felt convicted this morning.

As soon as I saw we were singing "Shine Jesus Shine", my heart sank. It was then that I felt challenged by God: "Look at the words Nick. It doesn't matter why the song was picked... you can still make sure it means something to you."

As always, God was right... and it struck me that the third verse may be sung a lot more lightly by people, than it should be:

As we gaze on your kingly brightness
So our faces display your likeness
Ever changing from glory to glory
Mirrored here may our lives tell your story
Shine on me, shine on me

Pay particular attention to the line I highlighted. How easy is it to sing that line without thinking of the consequences? Are we really prepared to live the life of Jesus... no matter the cost?

As it turned out, the selection of song was appropriate. We were looking at the martyrdom of Stephen this morning... and the passage talks about his face radiating like an angel while they threw insults at him for what he spoke of.

Furthermore, it occurred to me that Stephen's life really did mirror Christ's.

Why do I say that? Well as soon as Stephen was arrested (for doing nothing more than performing miracles and engaging in debate), some of the trumped up charges he was prosecuted on, were the same ones Jesus faced. The Sanhedrin charged him with speaking out against the temple and the law. They were obsessed with stone, ink, paper, silver and gold. Stephen was accused of threatening to destroy the temple... but he was not speaking against the Law... he was speaking up for grace. The Sanhedrin must have been suffering a terrible bout of deja vu because no sooner had the kangaroo court heard mention of the name Jesus, they flew into a fury and stoned Stephen to death.

Stephen in his final moments really did mirror Christ; his life and death really did tell Christ's story.

But have we learned anything since that time? Are we like the wind, which blows and you cannot tell where it comes from, or where it goes? Or are we set in stone and obsessed with orderly worship?

Worship should have some form of structure... but it should only bet there to support it. Structure must not become an idol in itself.

Or will God have to send another Stephen into our churches?

A Slight Return

Sorry I've been away from the Sanctuary.

I've been pretty distracted this week, between swatting up for my First Aid at Work course and trying to prepare a sermon for the preaching course I'm on. My brain has pretty much been mashed.

Well I can confirm that there was no human to human resuscitation demonstration at the First Aid course (run by St. John Ambulance).

The course was a lot of fun and I learned a lot... I just hope it sticks somewhere in the back of my mind. On the morning of the final day, the lady running the course (Michelle, who had a great personality and sense of humour), put us through some hair raising first aid scenarios that tested the skills we had picked up to the max in order to demonstrate that we didn't need to worry about the assessment itself. Of course my psychology doesn't work like that. It's not what I'm doing... it's when people are scrutinising me, that I am most likely to get petrified.

One scenario I was given was someone with a cut to the arm and a fractured hip... standing. My biggest problem was getting them to transfer their weight onto their good leg so I could get them into the correct treatment position. Once I had done this, they decided to have an asthma attack. Apparently I was a lot quicker in the room at picking up what was going on with my patient (all the volunteers of that round were having asthma attacks). I got them to take their medication and then proceeded to complete treatment of the wound.

The second scenario I got was a total nightmare. Truth be told... those of us who had gone out the room for this round were anticipating something pretty nasty because as patients in the previous round, we had been told to lose consciousness within 10 seconds of the first aider arriving.

We were not to be disappointed.

As we were called in by our "helpful" bystander, I was shown over to someone with a fractured jaw and stab wound to the leg. Not so bad so far... except my "helpful" bystander was being anything but helpful and running around like a headless chicken, screaming her head off. I genuinely surprised myself with an authoritative command to her to calm down as I needed her help. She calmed down immediately (I must have sounded uncharacteristically scary). As I proceeded to treat my casualty, I was waiting for my patient to deteriorate and be magically transformed into a plastic "Little Annie" manikin... but that didn't happen. What did happen was my bystander pointed to a spot behind the table where poor "Little Annie" had keeled over (always likely when you don't have legs, arms, lower torso, or any real internal organs), she was a separate casualty.

I switched priorities and checked vitals... called for help and got an ambulance called while I commenced CPR. It was all rather bizarrely automatic to me. However when my bystander returned I was stuck because I needed to get the other patient stabilised. It was pointed out to me that my bystander could do CPR if I showed them how. That is an interesting one though isn't it? The thought had crossed my mind... but I had been reluctant to because as I was playing the person with responsibility and training, I was acutely aware that I held this plastic doll's fragile life in my hands... and if she was going to "die", I didn't want someone else to have to live with the onus of that responsibility.

It's strange what goes through your kind at times like that.

I was told I did really well....but I was still feeling like going into shock before the assessment.

As it turned out, the assessment was nowhere near as harsh as those scenarios... but having less to think about coupled with a constant scrutiny of my actions, I found I was severely pumped with nervous energy.

However... I made it through and am now the proud owner of a resuscitation face shield keyring.

I'm proud of my new skills, but if anyone dares collapse in the office on Monday I shall not be impressed with them!

I'm hoping to incorporate my first aid training into my sermon for tomorrow, which I hope to republish here for your perusal in some form.

Further Instruction

I've had a bit of manic weekend.

Tomorrow marks the third session of the preaching course I'm on. It'll be the first one where we'll have to produce some homework. As part of the course, we are required to submit two sermon outlines and two full fat sermons. I'll need to submit the first outline based on Isaiah 40:1-11.

I found it tough going. If you've read any of the things I've recorded here, you may guess that I don't tend to work in that fashion... I like to keep myself on edge - call it theological free running. In short, I lack a methodical approach when it comes to sermon preparation.

Nevertheless I have produced the outline on a pristine piece of A4 paper. I found it a bit tough doing things the disciplined way. I've been advised I need to have to perform an exposition of scripture with a distinct aim and challenge. Now I'm not saying I wouldn't normally do that... but I tend to like writing a few key lines that form the basis of prompts or signposts to where I'm going. I like to have only a skeletal structure, preferring to leave the muscles and meat to stew in my brain between when I set out the framework and when I deliver it live.

This is not something I will be able to do for the preaching course. I'll have to have outlines summarising the choicest portions before they are served... and when it comes to delivering 10 minutes "mock"sermons (although I plan to deliver it for real... after all I am talking to other genuine Christians and it is an opportunity to teach and learn at the same time), I will have to submit transcribe notes of the material. This is where I'm likely to come unstuck... it's where I lack discipline. You'd think it would be easy - after all, I write my thoughts down here often enough... but my approach to speaking is different to my approach to writing,so this is a matter of some concern to me. Still it is an opportunity to learn discipline and it could prove a very valuable exercise.

I also need to prepare some teaching material and a talk on the subject of light for SU camp. I only need to have the teaching materials ready in the near future...but I need to make sure those materials tie in with the message I'll eventually be giving. Fortunately I already have a good idea of the approach I'm going to have to take with that, but it does mean that I'll be writing several lots of teaching and sermons in a relative short space of time. It'll be a good test as to how much juice is in the tank spiritually. The demands are higher than normal, so if I don't keep step with God... I'll get myself into a tricky spot!

Finally this week, I am taking part in a First Aid training course.

This terrifies me more than anything I have written above. You may very well be asking why on Earth that is.

Well, the mere mention of First Aid brings back terrifying memories from my college days. I was off site at the town leisure centre with two friends, minding my own business shooting pool. Our game was rudely interrupted by one of the college lecturers. She was flanked by an extremely hot young lady... and two extremely grim looking lads.

The lecturer was leading a First Aid course... but there was a problem.

There were no mannikin's to perform CPR on. A fiendish plot surfaced in her calculating mind. There were three of them and three of us. She asked if we wanted to be voluntary mannikin's. Now at the time, I wasn't sure if this was safe anyway... breathing into the breathless is one thing, but my lungs were functioning perfectly. However this was not what was primarily occupying my thoughts... nor those of my companions. We were simultaneously evaluating the same equation. Namely, what were the odds of us getting one of the ugly blokes as our manikin compared to the odds of getting the girl? It was very clear that one of us was going to be extremely lucky... and believe me the temptation was sore - like a carrot on a stick to half starved donkeys. It was also abundantly clear that the other two of our trio were going to be... well, lets say... uncomfortably numb.

We looked at them.

They looked at us.

We looked at each other.

Then, in an act of male solidarity... we scarpered.

Now it's true that he who dares wins and that if you want to reap the rewards of a venture,you have to take risks... but we were feeling particularly cowardly that day. Would I do the same thing if the situation presented itself once more?

I'm hoping I don't have to find out the answer to that one this week.

I'll let you know.

The Art of Succesful Protesting: Thinking Outside The Box

I've been paying attention to the protests that have dogged the tour of the Olympic Torch on it's journey around the world.

I am in total agreement about the chronic human rights abuses that the Chinese government regularly carries out. Those who want to make a point about a regime that is honouring the spirit of fellowship and fair play with it's lips, whilst having at it's heart, an attitude that is light years away from such a concept... have my full support.

It's even more appalling that our Governments are spending money protecting the political interests of the Chinese Government, in the face of many of their own citizens who are opposed to that Government. It is clear that they value eastern investment more than they value the people who pay for their extortionate parliamentary expenses packages.

It's clear that international police forces have been incredibly well briefed and prepared... deploying an extensive amount of resources and using flexible route planning to frustrate the attempts of the protesters.

Have you ever noticed though, when it comes to protesting...the most whacked out schemes are the ones that generally succeed? Police are extremely well equipped to handle people on the streets... but when you come out of left field with an idea like climbing the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco (see below), it gives them less time to form an effective strategy and the best they can hope to do is act retrospectively - diversions or making subsequent arrests.

If you want to put the mockery of an Olympic flame out.... I favour an airborne strategy. I think an excellent idea would be to hire out one of these babies:

That's right... a fire plane, or at least a crop duster. Just fly in out of nowhere and ditch fire extinguishing materials on the targets below you. A substance such as the one deployed above would be especially poignant; the red tint would serve as a reminder of the blood shed in human rights atrocities.

One thing though... I wouldn't try it in the US... they'd shoot you down.

The question of people's right to protest in the name of causes such as Tibet raises another in turn. In four years time... is my country going to be finding itself in a similar situation over crimes committed by it's own politicians. Sure, they may not be as numerous... but the causes that people might find reason to protest for or against... are certainly powerful enough.

I guess I'd better start saving up for flying lessons then.

Strength - Not Necessarily A Virtue.

I nearly got myself into a bit of a pickle on Friday night.

I was mistaken for an RAF brigadier by a bunch of drunk Welsh tourists in the pub where we had met after work. I really didn't have the heart to tell them that the RAF don't have any brigadiers... especially as one of them was incredibly large and had been kind enough to buy a complete stranger like me a drink (using a suspiciously half inch thick wad of crisp £20 notes).

But that's not why I nearly came a cropper.

Somehow, all our conversations after work, seemed to stray into "every" taboo topic you aren't supposed to talk about in social gatherings. It's probably my fault because I honestly don't understand that principle. The subjects that are frowned on (politics, religion, morals and ethics), I find are the most revealing about a person's character and the most interesting way of learning about other people's world views in relation to your own. Honestly... how are we to learn how to live with other people's diverse attitudes if we are completely afraid to discuss them?

Anyway, we ended up talking about Thatcher. I'm not a fan... but a couple of other people are. One person commented that she admired Thatcher because she was a strong woman. It was at this point that I came across as a misogynist because I questioned whether that was a good thing. What I was addressing was not gender issues... but the dangers that surround the force of personality.

What I actually meant to get across was was that I didn't consider that being a strong person, was a good thing in itself. The most abominable events in the entire history of human civilization have often been put down to the decisions of strong minded individuals or groups, who used sheer willpower and confidence to sway the weak, uneducated or apathetic.

They still do.

Curiously enough I went to a preaching seminar last night and the guest speaker - Roger Morris, touched on the subject of strength whilst preaching on the tough passage of Revelation 16. He referred to an American politician who said the following words in the wake of 9/11:

"American power is the most important part. When it is brought to bear in great and terrible measure, it is a thing to strike terror in the heart of anyone who opposes it. No mountain is big enough, no cave deep enough to hide from the full fury of American power."

Those words were spoken by Senator John McCain.

You've read his words...

...now mark mine. America walked that road before and where did it get it? Will that nation repeat the decisions of yesterday and reap the same hardships for it's reward?

It seems to me in America that some potential leaders are going out of their way to appear strong... at the expense of demonstrating the qualities of wisdom that is equally, if not more important in the role of governing a nation.

Not that the USA is by any means the sole example of this. Every nation is just as easily sold down the river to the bravado and charisma of the strong, or the seductive words of cunning knaves.

For the Christian it boils down to whether we let our fear of men or our love of God, govern our decisions. In the Bible there are plenty of times where the nation of Israel either trusts in its own power or flocks to a foreign ally... and finds in the long run it costs them dear.

When we respond to fear, we march to the beat of this world's drum. When we look to mankind for ultimate security, we will always find it lacking... or discover to our horror that it has metamorphosed into something far more distasteful.

Have we forgotten that God calls us to march to a different tune?

The tune of his unconditional love. The love that defies logic and flies in the face of human assessment:

"But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him."

1 Corinthians 1:27-29

God's love often appears irrational in the world's eyes... but that would be an inaccurate description. I think that superrational is a better term, albeit one that still carries a certain degree of limitation.

"For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength."

1 Corinthians 1:25

The world says crush your enemies.

The Lord says love your enemies.

The world says if we love our enemies, we appear weak and they might overrun us with their culture and all will be lost.

However, Jesus Christ came into a world where the culture of his nation was already overrun by conquerors. He didn't raise a sword against them. He didn't muster an army. He even let his enemies kill him.

In the final analysis, Rome's victories were temporal and the glory of that empire faded... as is the way with all empires eventually; Christ's victory was eternal and the glory of God still shines out today in people's lives.

It is still true today. We don't need to look to the temporal for our security...but the eternal. In the West we've had it far too easy, far too long. We seem to think that it is important for Christianity to hold temporal power... but God's most powerful works are often revealed in times and places where Christians hold little or no power.

The apostle Paul found himself burdened with a "thorn" that caused him to be humble in the face of the great things that God was doing in his life. Three times he pleaded with god to go easy on him... and this was the response:

"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

2 Corinthians 2:9,10

What a stark contrast to the McCain quote we looked at earlier.

It comes down to a simple choice... but one we must constantly make:

Temporary power, or permanent grace...

What will it be for you?

Don't Get in a Flap

I think i managed to navigate April Fool's Day pretty much unscathed today... how about you?

Did anyone catch the hilarious April Fool's gag/BBC iPlayer advert that ran this morning. What is unique about it, is that the story was apparently broken as a joint effort on the part of the BBC, GMTV and at least one national newspaper.

It's not unusual for the media to pull stunts to commemorate the date, but this is the first time I can think of when differing media companies have conspired together on the same story, to increase the chances of some poor gullible sap falling for it.

The Beeb have done well out of it, as the trailer serves as an advert for their iPlayer service.

If you didn't see it, here is the clip in question:

All that it remains for me to do, is say that I hope you enjoyed this day of fiendish pranks, tall tales and good natured hilarity... and that you survived it relatively unscathed.