The strong force in humanity

Here's my Article for the August magazine:

One of my achievements in life is that I have never seen any of the Star Wars films. And this is even more remarkable as I live in a house where everyone else is a fan of Star Wars – we have DVDs, books, Lego models, light sabres, night lights and probably more. And this summer, yet another Star Wars film was released. Solo is the back story of Hans Solo, the character played by Harrison Ford in the original movies.

Star Wars, like the Marvel / DC comics, is a franchise that seems to offer endless scope for prequels, sequels and spin-offs, partly driven by interest in the lives of the characters. With the advent of the internet there are many fora for discussing questions about various characters' origins, motivations, thoughts and feelings, and what they did next. And the literary genre of fan fiction gives stories to answer these questions and even to create parallel plot-lines where enemies become friends (or even lovers!) or characters from different stories meet. And just in case you think this is a modern phenomenon confined to sci-fi geeks, “Old Friends and New Fancies” (1913) by Sybil G. Brinton combines characters from Jane Austen's six major novels in one story.

As human beings we were created by God to be like him and so we share some of his attributes. One of these is an interest in the world around us and particularly in other people. Jesus reminds us that God is so interested in us that he knows how many hairs are on each of our heads (Matthew 10:30)! It is this characteristic that drives us to create literature and art and to engage in science, which are all explorations of the world and humankind. But other people are not just objects of curiosity to be investigated; we are created to be social creatures, and on the whole most of us enjoy being with other people. We gather in groups with shared interests or to learn new things, or we gather simply to connect with others.

In the Creation story, the Bible says that after God made the first human he declared that “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). This is a great truth about human nature. But God's solution to this was not just to make the man a social creature, nor just to give him animals to interact with, but to give him a wife: “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). This is the verse Jesus quotes when discussing marriage (Mark 10:6-9), grounding the biblical understanding of marriage not in a social construct that can be redefined to whatever society likes but in our very DNA, in the way God has made us.

However, Genesis 3 reminds us that we are also sinful creatures, who have rebelled against God and fall short of his design for us. And this affects everything we do. So our interest in others can get twisted into nosiness and gossip, and our relationships and marriages can break down. Thankfully, Jesus came not just to teach us the truth but also to die so that when we fall short of perfection, our sins can be forgiven, and we can be a new creation.

Image from http://tshirtgroove.com/ive-never-seen-star-wars-t-shirt/

The downside of never growing up

Here's my article for the July edition of the Scawby parish magazine:

This year, the Year 6s from both Scawby Academy and Hibaldstow will be performing Peter Pan.  As a boy, Peter Pan was one of my favourite stories and I would often read the Ladybird Children's Classics version of it.  I also have fond memories of watching Peter Pan performed on ice one Christmas.  I don't know whether it was the flying or the sword-fighting that excited me most about the story, but one of the reasons it's remained such a popular story throughout the world with people all ages, is that it is seen as a celebration of childhood innocence and a reflection of our desire for eternal youth.

When I had children of my own, I decided to read J. M. Barrie's original story so I could then read it to my children, but I was horrified at how sinister and disturbing his story actually is.  Far from being the playful and mischievous character of my memories, Peter is a controlling, egotistical bully.  The fantasy worlds we create as children are lived as if they were reality in Neverland.  In Chapter 6: The Little House, after Wendy is shot down, Peter calls for a doctor and one of the Lost Boys pretends to be a doctor.  Barrie writes

The difference between him [Peter] and the other boys at such a time was that they knew it was make-believe; while to him make-believe and true were exactly the same thing. This sometimes troubled them, as when they had to make-believe that they had had their dinners.  If they broke down in their make-believe he rapped them on their knuckles.

Most disturbing, however, is Peter's attitude to adults, and particularly mothers.  In Chapter 11: Wendy's Story it says that Peter

was so full of wrath against grown-ups, who, as usual, were spoiling everything, that as soon as he got inside his tree he breathed intentionally quick short breaths at the rate of about five to a second. He did this because there is a saying in the Neverland that, every time you breathe, a grown-up dies; and Peter was killing them off vindictively as fast as possible.

His experience of running away from his mother, and returning some time later only to find she has had another son, leads him to distrust others, particularly mothers.  Peter's refusal to grow up is less about the wonders of childhood and more to do with his fear of the uncontrollability of real life, especially in relationships with others.

We might see in Peter a reflection of our modern obsession with youth or a (not universally justified) criticism of 'young people nowadays' who want the enjoyment of life without any of its responsibilities.  However, Peter's blurring of fact and fantasy points to a more worrying aspect of society: where people can construct their own 'reality' which has no basis in fact or logic, and then require everyone else to 'play-along' with their make-believe.  Those that don't play along get rapped on the knuckles or worse.  Jesus calls us to follow him; the Way, the Truth and the Life.  And following him really is an awfully big adventure.

The hills are alive with the sound of praising

Here's my article for Broughton's July magazine:


It's one of the greatest cinematic opening sequences. The camera swoops down over the mountains and zooms in on a woman running across a meadow; the orchestra swells and as we focus in on her she begins to sing “The hills are alive with the sound of music”. I don't know if the beginning of Broughton Primary School's production of the Sound of Music will be quite as dramatic but I'm sure that the whole of the show will be brilliant as usual.

That uplifting opening song uses the image of the natural world being alive with the sound of music and of humanity joining in with that music. But this isn't just a poetic image of how the noises in the world could be heard as musical, rather it is actually a description, perhaps unknowingly, of a deep biblical truth. Isaiah 49:13 says “Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains!”, and 1 Chronicles 16:32-33 says “Let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them! Let the trees of the forest sing, let them sing for joy before the Lord”. Many other places in the Bible talk of creation singing and making music and the book of Psalms, Israel's hymn book, ends with this verse “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” (Psalm 150:6).

The Bible affirms that all creation has this musical quality, but unlike the song in the musical, this is not just a way of describing a joyous 'life force' that connects every part of the natural world. The musicality of creation, including humanity, has a purpose, and that purpose is to praise God. Revelation 4, echoing Isaiah 6, describes some of what goes on in heaven speaking about the angels constantly saying “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.” (Traditionally the speech of angels is said to be the same as human song). So the constant music of creation joins in with the constant song of heaven to praise God.

We praise God for who he is, but we also praise him for what he does. 1 Chronicles 16 gives two of God's wonderful acts that particularly deserve praise. Verse 23 says “Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day” and in verse 33 creation sings because he comes to judge the earth. So creation praises God because of his judgement and his salvation.

It may seem odd to praise God for his judgement, but deep down it's what we all crave. We see a world where to much is wrong and we long for it to be put right; we see evil seemingly unpunished in this word and long for there to be justice. However, the problem is that justice demands that all wrongdoing is punished. Jesus commands us to “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) but Romans 3:23 reminds us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and Psalm 130:3 asks “If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?” Only what is holy can enter the presence of the Holy God and we are all far from holy.

Therefore, we also rejoice in God's salvation. Romans 3 goes on to say “all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood – to be received by faith.” Jesus died to take the punishment we deserve so that through repentance and faith in him we can be forgiven. And as we turn to the Lord “the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands” (Isaiah 55:12).

St Alban, heroism and a gendarme

Here's a slightly extended version of my June magazine article:

On 22^nd June, the Church of England commemorates St Alban, known as the first martyr of Britain. Alban has a tenuous connection with us as the Duke of St Albans is one of the Patrons of our group of parishes, Redbourne being one of the historic seats of the Dukes.

Little is known for sure about Alban, even his date of death has been variously given as around either 209, 251, or 304 AD. But the story of his martyrdom varies less, with the fullest account given in Bede's Ecclesiastical History. Alban lived in Verulamium, a city in Roman Britain now known as St Albans, and was not a Christian. He was possibly a Roman soldier and might have been a leading citizen of the city. At that time the small but increasing Christian community began to be persecuted by the Roman authorities and one day a Christian priest, who was fleeing for his life, came to Alban's house seeking refuge. Over the few days that the priest was in his house, Alban was impressed by the priest's faith and devotion and converted to Christianity. Eventually the authorities came to Alban's house to search for the priest, Alban put on the priest's clothes and handed himself over to the soldiers.

Alban was brought before a judge who threatened him with torture unless he made sacrifices to the Roman gods. Alban refused, declaring "I worship and adore the true and living God who created all things." The judge then ordered that Alban should be whipped and tortured, but Alban still would not deny his faith so he was sentenced to be beheaded. Bede records some miracles that occurred: firstly, that Alban stopped the waters of a river so that they could cross it, and he further caused a fountain of water to flow on the summit of the hill on which he was beheaded. Seeing the first miracle the executioner was converted and then beheaded too, and the man who replaced him, after striking the fatal blow, was punished with blindness. St Alban's Cathedral stands on the believed site of the execution.

Alban's actions find a very modern echo in the actions of the French police officer, Arnaud Beltrame, who on 23rd March this year offered himself in exchange for the hostages in an Islamic terrorist attack in Trèbes, and died the next day. Beltrame's heroism was motivated by the Christian faith to which he had been converted ten years ago. Fr Dominique Arz, national chaplain of the gendarmerie, said “The fact is that he did not hide his faith, and that he radiated it, he bore witness to it. We can say that his act of self-offering is consistent with what he believed. He...bore witness to his faith to the very end.”

Despite the common accusation that religion causes more violence in the world, nowhere in the New Testament are Christians encouraged to kill in order to spread the faith. In fact the opposite is true. Jesus said ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it” (Matthew 16:24-25). John wrote “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 John 3:16). The Christian faith is something worth living for and something worth dying for because death for those who believe in Jesus means resurrection to eternal life.



[Image from: http://orthochristian.com/104923.html]

What's Whit?

Here's my article for the May magazine:

Pentecost is one of those Christian festivals that people have often heard about but know little about. It's more commonly known by its old name Whitsun or Whit Sunday and is often associated with school half-term or with local events or traditions.

Pentecost is fifty days after Jesus rose from the dead at Easter and ten days after he ascended into heaven (Acts 1:1-11). It is the day when the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and started to tell others about Jerusalem (Acts 2:1-41), so it is often called the birthday of the Church. But the Holy Spirit didn't just appear at Pentecost. Christians believe that the Holy Spirit is not just a way of describing the power of God, but that “Within the unity of the Godhead there are three persons who are of one substance, power and eternity - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” (The Articles of Religion in modern form - An English Prayer Book [Church Society:1994]). This belief in 'one God in three persons' is celebrated on the Sunday after Pentecost, which is Trinity Sunday. So the Holy Spirit is eternal and we see him at work throughout the Bible, although his work changes.

Before Jesus, the Holy Spirit was involved with creation, especially of humans (Genesis 1:2 and 2:7). He was given to particular people, at particular times, for particular tasks (for example: to Bezalel to be an artist [Exodus31:1-5]; to Gideon to lead [Judges 6:14-16, 34]; and to Isaiah to prophesy [Isaiah 61:1-3]). But the Holy Spirit was also promised to be eventually for all believers, all of the time (Joel 2:28-29).

Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35), and the Holy Spirit came on Jesus at his baptism (Luke 3:21-22) and empowered his ministry (Acts 10:38). Jesus also promised that his disciples would receive the Holy Spirit too (Acts 1:4-5).

So at Pentecost we see the fulfilment of the Old Testament promise and Jesus' promise. But that promise was not just for Jesus' first disciples. Peter reminded the crowd on that day that if we repent and believe in Jesus we too will receive the Holy Spirit as “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:38-39).

This is something really worth celebrating: the same Holy Spirit that brought the universe into being; that gave humanity its soul; that empowered Jesus to do all his miracles – that same Holy Spirit is available to each and every one of us that repents and believes in Jesus!! The Holy Spirit enables us to do many things, and the New Testament is clear that without the Holy Spirit you cannot be called a Christian – but all you have to do is ask (Luke 11:9-13)!

If there were no resurrection...

Here's my magazine article for April:

The resurrection of Jesus is the most important event in the whole history of the universe. And not just because to celebrate it we have a day when you're allowed to eat chocolate at every meal and for every snack in between! Jesus' death is the centre of the Christian faith but it's his resurrection that gives his death its meaning.

Paul wrote that the most important belief is “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve” (1 Corinthians15:3-5). Later in the same chapter he writes “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (verse 17). Our sins can be forgiven because Jesus died in our place but it is his resurrection that guarantees that his sacrifice worked.

Jesus predicted that he would die and be raised to life again (Mark 8:31) so his resurrection proves that his teaching is trustworthy and true. Therefore, when he says that he gives his life “as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45) we know that is true too. Anyone could say that they will give their life as a ransom for many but the resurrection is proof that Jesus actually did it. Without the resurrection, Jesus could be seen as just a wise teacher or guru, or even as a tragic hero who died because he challenged the establishment. With the resurrection we can be sure that Jesus' death was the sacrifice needed to take the punishment we deserve for our sins. We also know that sin has been dealt with because the consequence of sin is death (Romans 6:23); Jesus' resurrection proves that he has conquered death and therefore also conquered sin.

But the resurrection is more than a proof so that we know we can be forgiven. Paul tells us “We were therefore buried with [Jesus] through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:4). That new life has the qualities of eternal life (closeness to God, freedom from slavery to sin, freedom from fear of death) but is available here and now. Jesus' resurrection means we can have a fresh start; forgiven for our past sins and a future close relationship with God. Jesus' resurrection means that salvation isn't something that happens after death but is a state of life before death that carries on beyond death. As Jesus said, he came so that those who believe in him “may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

So this Easter as you munch your way through excessive amounts of chocolate, think about the world-changing event that that chocolate celebrates: Jesus' resurrection. And more importantly, think what Jesus' resurrection means to you. In Romans 10:9, Paul assures us “if you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Cross words

Here's my magazine article for March:

Would you wear a piece of jewellery in the shape of an electric chair? Or perhaps a noose and gallows? Unless you have a particularly macabre fashion taste, I suspect the answer would be no. After all why would you wear a symbol of torture and execution? But that is precisely what many people do by wearing a cross. Crucifixion was the cruel Roman method of execution that they reserved for the very worst criminals, yet the cross quickly became the symbol of the underground movement that made up the early church.

We have an unusual situation this year with Good Friday being in a different month to Easter Sunday, so we have the opportunity to focus on Jesus' death this month before thinking about his resurrection next month.

We're so used to seeing crosses around that we've lost the shock of what it represents. The early church chose not to celebrate Jesus' amazing miracles nor even his wise teachings but his death, and it wasn't a heroic or serene death but a shameful, criminal's death. If the early church wanted to commend their new faith to the world dominated by the Romans, emphasising Jesus' crucifixion is not the best way to start. But that is what they did. Why?

Well the simple answer is because the crucifixion is the centre of the Christian faith; it is the literal and metaphorical crux of Christianity.  Paul wrote that he “resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).  He knew that this would be a shocking message, writing “Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:22-23).  The Jews were expecting a Messiah who would kick the Romans out of Israel, not one who was killed by them! And the Gentiles (non-Jews) wanted a highly intellectual philosophy not the story of a man who rejected by his own people!  Those who saw the cross as a stumbling-block and foolishness agreed with the Jewish religious leaders who mocked the dying Jesus: “‘He saved others,’ they said, ‘but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him’” (Matthew 27:42-43).

But the deeper reason why people then and now reject the message of Christ crucified is because it reminds us of a very uncomfortable truth: that we are sinners who need saving.  Paul reminds us that all of us have sinned and fallen short of God's standard (Romans 3:23) (and if we are honest we fall short of our own standards too) and the punishment for sin is death (Romans 6:23), eternal separation from God.  And because of our sin we are helpless to save ourselves.  But the good news is that “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood – to be received by faith” (Romans 3:25), that's what it means to say that Christ died for our sins.

Christ crucified means that we cannot be saved by our own moral or religious efforts, but only because Jesus died in our place. The pathetic-looking figure on the cross is the solution to the world's problems, but only when we recognise our own pathetic-ness, let go of our pretensions to goodness and rejoice that “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).