Do you want a new start?

Here's my article for the Scawby and Hibaldstow magazines for August:

This year's Year 6 production at Scawby and Hibaldstow schools was High School Musical. They did this previously in 2019 and the children who performed then have just finished their GCSEs! With the recent change of government it seems appropriate to look at the HSM song “Start of Something New” though of course it's nothing to do with politics!

“Start of Something New” is the opening song of HSM and is the first time the two main characters, Troy and Gabriella, meet; both being called to sing this karaoke duet at a New Year's Eve party. The song sets up the premise of HSM that people will change from 'living in their own world' to 'taking a chance' and 'opening up their hearts to all the possibilities' and this change is going to come about through Troy and Gabriella's relationship.

Change is a part of life, and both advertisers and politicians want to make us discontent with our lives so that we will want the change that they're offering. But so often the change that's offered is either illusory or it doesn't solve the problems we have.

Jesus' call and invitation is also to change, to the start of something new, which he describes as being 'born again' (John 3:3). As we repent of our past sins and failures, of how we live in our own worlds not caring about others; and as we trust in him, putting him at the centre of our lives, we become, as the apostle Paul says, “a new creation...the old has gone, the new is here” (2 Corinthians 5:17). But this isn't just a call to moral reform, as we know that however hard we try to make ourselves better people, we will always fail. This is instead a call to a relationship that changes not just how we see the world but how we respond to it and behave within it, as Troy and Gabriella sing “the world looks so much brighter / with you by my side” and that is the start of something new.

As we live in a relationship with Jesus, we start to see the world as he sees it. In some ways it is much brighter because we see in the natural world God's love of variety and God's love for us as humanity in providing such a wonderful universe for us. We also see in each other the dignity that we each possess because we are made in the image and likeness of God. But we also see the darkness in the world and in ourselves, especially the darkness that comes from rejecting God and his ways, and ignoring the dignity in all humans.

It is only through a relationship with Jesus that we can truly be a new creation; without it our 'changed' lives are just window-dressing or a quick dust, and our 'something new' is really just the 'same old, same old' pretending to be different. So if you are disillusioned with your life, however outwardly or superficially 'successful' it seems, turn to Jesus who comes to bring us life in all its fulness (John 10:10) and it will be the start of something new.

Manifestos, pledges and promises

OIKOS is a fantastic ecumenical initiative in Brigg, that run a Christian shop, a Food Bank, a Community Pantry and more! I was asked to write some short 'thoughts to start your week' for July 2024 for their Facebook page. This is an expanded version of the thought for 28th July.

As the dust settles on another General Election, the hard work of governing begins, not just for the government but for the rest of parliament too in their various rôles. Part of that work will be to enact the promises made during the election campaign and especially in the party manifestos. This is obviously the case for the new government, but the other parties too will likely continue to argue for their policies. However, in our cynical age a YouGov survey this year found that just one in five (20%) people believe that winning parties generally keep to all or most of their manifesto promises. Fully half of Britons (53%) think that parties go back on most of their promises, and 22% believe they go back on all or almost all of their pledges. This may account for why 308 people voted for Count Binface in the Richmond and Northallerton constituency this year: number 10 on his list of promises was “I pledge to build at least one affordable house.” That's a pledge which has a chance of being kept!

But as the saying goes, when we point a finger at someone else, three point back at us! Politicians will come up with reasons/excuses for why they can't keep their pledges - the financial situation was worse than they thought; the issue was more complex; vested interests prevented them etc. - but we often make promises with little or no intention of keeping them. We'll promise to do something or go somewhere, knowing that we're going to make a 'subsequent appointment' that will prevent us fulfilling our promise, or that we'll 'forget' and 'sincerely apologise' later. We make these promises to 'keep the peace' or stop someone nagging us, or we do it to make ourselves look good. No wonder the Bible says that “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah 17:9 New Living Translation). We think the worst of others because we know how bad we ourselves can be.

So when it comes to God's promises, we can cynical about those too, judging him by our own standards. This is particularly so when we feel that he is not listening to or answering our prayers. The topic of 'unanswered prayer' is a huge one, but for now a couple of comments will have to do: firstly, we are to pray “your will be done” (Matthew 6:10 and 26:39) – we can tell God what we'd like to happen but we should leave it to him to answer our prayers “as may be most expedient for us” (Prayer of Chrysostom). Secondly, the Bible tells us bluntly “You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:2-3). Our hearts can often deceive us into thinking that we're asking with pure motives, but our prayers are often selfish and self-promoting.

Returning to the theme of God's promises, the Bible assures us “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:19) and “The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does” (Psalm 145:13). So God keeps his promises, even if we don't. According to researchers, the Bible contains more than 7,000 promises from God to his people. Studying them gives us assurance that he loves us, he is in control, and he will never leave us. I'm not going to list all 7,000 but here's two really important promises: Jesus said “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28) and “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” (John 3:16).

Assassination, the Hand of God and demonisation

OIKOS is a fantastic ecumenical initiative in Brigg, that run a Christian shop, a Food Bank, a Community Pantry and more! I was asked to write some short 'thoughts to start your week' for July 2024 for their Facebook page. This is an expanded version of the thought for 21st July.

As some recover from the disappointment of the England men's football team's defeat in the final of Euro 2024, others think that they shouldn't have got to the final in the first place. England won a penalty against the Netherlands in the semi-final but there have been disagreements ever since about whether the penalty should have been given. However, on Facebook, the football fanzine 'When Saturday Comes' commented:

“Maybe it wasn’t a penalty but Maradona’s was handball, Lampard’s goal was over the line, Beckham’s was never a red and Campbell’s goal should’ve stood. Couldn’t care less.”

Whilst not everyone would recall the last three of those incidents, even for those who aren't interested in football, Maradona's goal against England in the 1986 World Cup is infamous. And it is all the more infamous because of his response when asked if he scored it illegally; stating it was made "a little with the head of Maradona, and a little with the hand of God."

Divine intervention is very much in the news at the moment with Donald Trump's claim that his survival of an assassination attempt was the work of “God alone.” Whilst there is shock about this attempt, it perhaps shouldn't be that much of a surprise to us; after all, as George Bernard Shaw said “Assassination is the extreme form of censorship.” So much of contemporary political and public discussion involves personal (verbal) attacks on people and a desire to silence contrary views. Wherever people are on the political spectrum, rhetorical attacks are part and parcel of the discourse but they can often tip over into demonisation not just of opinions, but also of those who hold them. And it's not a huge step from a desire to silence an opinion to a desire for a world where those who hold those opinions don't exist any more, and thence to approving of the permanent silencing of those people. As Gavin Ashenden wrote “The assassination of the human character is only a short distance away from the assassination of the human person.” 

But what of God's rôle in all of this? Did he really intervene to save Trump's life? Some would argue against this on the grounds either that God doesn't exist; or that he doesn't intervene at all in the world; or that even if he did he wouldn't do so to save someone like Trump. Christians affirm that God is not disinterested in the world and that he does indeed intervene in the world: the Bible is full of accounts of God's intervention and the heart of the biblical narrative is God himself becoming incarnate and entering the world in Jesus, and intervening through his life, death and resurrection to achieve our redemption and salvation (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). And he continues to intervene through miracles and answers to prayer. But these interventions are by definition rare, and often the only way we can tell whether something is by the hand of God is by looking backwards and seeing the consequences of an event.

So we may never know for sure if God intervened to save Trump, but what we can be sure of is that the demonisation of people makes assassination attempts more likely. And here we can't just point the finger at those with public platforms and 'followers.' We all have a tendency to treat those who differ from us, particularly with our political views, as being less wise, or intelligent, or compassionate, or just, than we are. Labels like 'bigot' or '...phobe' are used to dismiss and disparage not just opinions we disagree with but also the people who hold them. And that is a dangerous path to start going down.

Where we can be sure that God has intervened is in the creation and design of each one of us – we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-14). We all fall short of God's standards in our living, thinking and speaking, but we don't need to be demonised – we need to be redeemed.

Lies, damned lies, statistics and the importance of truth

OIKOS is a fantastic ecumenical initiative in Brigg, that run a Christian shop, a Food Bank, a Community Pantry and more!  I was asked to write some short 'thoughts to start your week' for July 2024 for their Facebook page. This is an expanded version of the thought for 14th July.

Picture by Carolyn Dyk – Wycliffe Bible Translators

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics – so goes the famous proverbial saying; 

Mark Twain attributed it to Benjamin Disraeli, but it has not been found in his writings, and in any case the saying, or some form of it has been found earlier than Disraeli.  But it sprang to mind listening to the pre-election debates where all the parties made various statistical claims about their own policies and disputing the statistics of their opponents.  And even in the aftermath of the General Election statistics are still flying about, again utilised by various people to shore up their viewpoint. There are arguments over vote share, seats won, voter turnout and other issues, which all show that statistics, though often true, are not 'the whole truth and nothing but the truth.'

Even the church is not immune from this: the Church of England recently trumpeted that the most recent church attendance figures has gone up for the second year running – which is true; however, what they didn't say as loudly was that attendance still hasn't returned to pre-pandemic levels.

It's easy to be cynical and despair at politicians and other public figures who use statistics, shall we say, 'creatively' or 'selectively' but we should perhaps consider their use of statistics and use it as a mirror to hold up to ourselves. Because all of us curate an image of ourselves that may be true, but is not the whole truth. Social media is probably the most obvious example of this, where we show the world our 'best' selves, and the 'best' parts of our life (and food!).  But we often do this too in the non-digital world: we tell the best stories about ourselves; we brag (in a humble way) about our achievements; and we impart our superior intelligence, knowledge and wisdom.  The way we look and dress; the things we put in our homes or gardens; the cars we drive (or don't drive); the places we go to and the people we are seen with all contribute to the way we present ourselves and project the image of ourselves that we want others to see.  These images and presentations are often true, though in being perhaps exaggerations of the truth, and only selective truths, they cannot be said to be the whole truth.

It seems to me that we do this because we are afraid that if people knew the whole truth about us, they would not want to be around us.  It is telling that in the Genesis account of the fall of humanity, after grasping for the 'knowledge of good and evil' (i.e. wanting the ability to decide for themselves what is right and wrong rather than trusting God), the first thing Adam and Eve do is cover themselves and hide (Genesis 3:7-8).  In wanting the power to judge they end up judging themselves and wanting to present a different version of themselves than the literal naked truth.  

But although we may be able to fool others, we cannot fool God: he is the one "to whom all hearts are open, all desires known and from whom no secrets are hidden" (Prayer of Preparation from the Holy Communion service) and the BCP Morning Prayer Service says we should "acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness; and that we should not dissemble nor cloke them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father."  Psalm 139 reminds us that God knows everything about us, including our sins – and the amazing thing is that he still loves us!   Chris Tomlin has written a worship song called 'Indescribable' that ends with these great lyrics, addressed to God: "You see the depths of my hart and you love me the same, you are amazing God!"  He wants us to change and turn away from our sin, but our sin doesn't stop him loving us.  He sees the whole truth about us, but we don't need to hide, instead he says to us:

  ‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’

    says the Lord.

‘Though your sins are like scarlet,

    they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red as crimson,

    they shall be like wool.' (Isaiah 1:18)

 

Elections, Euros and almost certain disappointment!

Here's an extended version of my article for July:

This month there will be two competitions: the General Election and the football European Championships – I'll leave you to decide which is the more important!  One thing both competitions have in common is that the majority of people will be disappointed with the result.  Obviously only one country's team can win the Euros, leading to heartbreak for the other finalist, and the other teams who don't even get that far.  However it's easy to forget this truth with the General Election because we live in a democracy and so assume that the outcome of the election is the 'will of the people.' So it comes as a bit of a shock to realise that since the end of WWII no party has won the General Election with over 50% of the vote (and of course not everyone who's eligible to vote does vote). So although the question of who we vote for is really important, we might also want to ask ourselves how we will respond when statistically we are more likely to be disappointed with the result.

Christianity, unlike Islam and pre-exilic Judaism, has no codes for government as it is not meant to be a 'state religion': Jesus calls his followers into the Kingdom of God, which he says “is not of this world” (John 18:36). The New Testament gives no guidance on what a Christian government would look like, what laws it should enact, nor by what mechanism that government should get its power.  Nor does it tell us, if we have a say in choosing the government, what questions or issues should take priority in our choice, nor what the character of those governing should be.  However, it does tell us that we should pray for the coming of God's Kingdom where his will is done on earth (Matthew 6:9-10); and it does tell us the character traits of those who belong to the Kingdom (e.g. 1 Corinthians 13:1-7) and the sorts of values they should hold (e.g. Colossians 1:9-14.)  But as it is very rare that candidates for election are members of God's Kingdom, and no political party fully reflects the values of the Kingdom - even if the candidate we vote for and their party wins, we are still likely to be disappointed!!

The realisation that we will be disappointed is a great corrective to the inflated sense of the importance of our own views that democracy gives us. We should always have freedom to hold and express our views, but we should also have the humility to listen to other people's views, being open to changing our minds and having the grace to let others change their minds too.  Most importantly though we should read God's word in the Bible so that we are shaped by his thoughts and not “conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of [our] mind” (Romans 12:2) “then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming” (Ephesians 4:14).

The New Testament is also more concerned with our attitude towards those in power, however they got it.  Paul and Peter tell us to submit to the governing authorities (Romans 13:1; 1 Peter 2:13), which is even more shocking since the Roman Emperor was the supreme governing authority, and Paul also calls us to pray for the authorities (1 Timothy 2:1-2).  However, we shouldn't obey the authorities if they are telling us to do something that goes against God's commands (Acts 5:29).  If Paul expects the churches to honour an Emperor who was clearly against God's Kingdom, “to slander no one [including the authorities], to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone” (Titus 3:2), how much more should we honour all those who work in public office, regardless of whether we completely agree with them?

So let's not allow our inevitable disappointment (either with politics or football!) to express itself in cynicism, insults and derogatory comment, but instead let's pray for all in authority, that through them God's Kingdom may come and his will be done.

Left image by John Mounsey from Pixabay 

Right image by Prawny from Pixabay 

Should God get credit for D-Day?

Here's an extended version of my magazine article for this month:

This month we will be commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the day the Allied troops landed in France to begin the counter-offensive against the Nazis.  Facing them was a vast defensive network of artillery, gun emplacements, mines and other deadly obstacles stretching from the west coast of France up to Norway, known as the “Atlantic Wall”.  Ernie Pyle, a war correspondent who was there at the time, said that the Allies attacked “with every advantage on the enemy’s side and every disadvantage on ours.”  Pyle concluded, “Now that it is all over, it seems to me a pure miracle that we ever took the beach at all.”  

We will be rightly admiring the bravely of those who attacked against such great odds, as well as the intelligence of those who devised both the invasion and the equipment needed for it.  But will God get any credit for the success of D-Day and its aftermath?

Invoking deities in battles is probably as old as human conflict itself, with victories being seen as evidence of the superiority of one nation's god(s) over another's.  When Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked Judah, his commander said to the people of Jerusalem ““Do not listen to Hezekiah [king of Judah], for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?” (2 Kings 18:32-33) In this case God did indeed deliver Judah (2 Kings 19:32-37).

Things get a bit more complicated however in the age of Christendom when the nations fighting against each other claimed to follow the same God, most famously perhaps with the Spanish Armada aiming to reclaim England for the 'true (Roman Catholic) faith' but being defeated in part by a 'Protestant wind.'  And in World War I both sides claimed God was on their side.  However, in World War II the Nazis rejected the traditional Judeo-Christian God and their policies made it easy for the Allies to claim that they were fighting against an evil regime.  So, coming to D-Day it was natural for the Allied hierarchy to invoke God to their cause.  

Eisenhower requested to the troops that “all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking”; Montgomery told the troops, “Let us pray that the Lord, mighty in battle, will give us victory”; Roosevelt offered a prayer rather than a speech  saying “In this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer”; and George VI said “I desire solemnly to call my people to prayer and dedication.”

Arguably the prayers worked.  The bad weather, which had led to the invasion being postponed, abated but also meant the Germans were not expecting the invasion.  Indeed a lot of their commanders left for war games exercises in Brittany, and Rommel, who was in charge of the Normandy defences, decided to travel 500 miles to Germany to celebrate his wife’s birthday. As Pyle observed, although still horrific, Allied casualties “were remarkably low—only a fraction, in fact, of what our commanders had been prepared to accept.”

So did God intervene miraculously on the Allied side on D-Day? The Bible reveals a God who cares about what happens in the affairs of nations and will intervene (Daniel 2:20-21), but we ought not to be too quick to recruit God to our cause.  As George VI wisely said on D-Day: “We are not unmindful of our shortcomings of the past and present. We shall not ask that God may do our will, but that we may be enabled to do the will of God; and we dare to believe that God has used [us] as an instrument for fulfilling his high purpose.” And when he does use us as an instrument we should, as Churchill told the House of Commons after the war had been won, “give humble and reverent thanks to Almighty God for our deliverance.”

“It would be better if I weren't here”

Here's my article for May:

“It would be better if I weren't here.”  This is often the heart-rending opinion of those who take their own lives. And the consequence of allowing forms of assisted suicide might be that terminally ill people are forced to think the same about themselves, seeing themselves as a burden to their families or society.  Whatever the circumstances of this opinion, it is always tragic.  Which is why it seems odd that Jesus said words to that effect to his disciples.

After his resurrection, Jesus spent forty days with his disciples, eating and drinking with them and also appearing to others (Acts 10:40-41; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8) and then went back to his Father, which we celebrate on Ascension Day.  However, before he died he was preparing his disciples for this final departure and said to them “very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away” (John 16:7).  I wonder if the disciples forgot this and perhaps one of the things he reminded them during those forty days was that it would be better for them for him to go away.  If so, I wonder if it puzzled them?

It might puzzle us too.  Surely it would be better for Jesus to have stayed on earth? Now he'd been resurrected he would be immortal and could carry on teaching and healing forever.  We could go to see him preach or witness his miracles; he could have his own TV, YouTube and TikTok channel; we could even 'follow' him on Facebook and Instagram, or read his tweets.  As Judas sings in 'Jesus Christ Superstar': “Why'd you choose such a backward time in such a strange land? / If you'd come today you could have reached a whole nation. / Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication.”

Many people say to me that they would believe in Jesus if he would only appear to them, though of course many people met Jesus during his earthly ministry, heard his teaching and saw his miracles but still didn't believe in him.  However, Jesus himself says why it was better for him to leave: “Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” - he's talking about the Holy Spirit, whose arrival we celebrate at Pentecost.  

In this sense, the Holy Spirit is better for us than Jesus because Jesus didn't lose his humanity when he was resurrected – he was raised physically with a body that could eat and drink and which still bore the marks of his crucifixion (John 20:27).  Therefore, like us, he could only be in one place at one time: he could only be beside us, whereas the Holy Spirit can dwell within everyone who believes in Jesus.  And one of the tasks of the Holy Spirit within us is to remind us that we are loved and valued by God no matter what we or others think about us.